Why can't she just love me back?
by Hulio
Summary: Why can't she just love me back? A question that James Potter just can't seem to find an answer to. A story about James Potter, Lily Evans and all their friends, and the battles they face at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Rated T for languag
1. Chapter 1

"HEY EVANS!" – Oh lord here it comes, she thought. She knew this voice so well, why couldn't he just leave her alone. She never asked for any of this yet the moment he first set eyes on her...

"WHAT DO YOU WANT POT-.. Sirius?"

"Yea, Evans I'm not too thrilled to be speaking to you right now either, but because of ... Whatever I don't have to explain myself to you. I just came here to give you this; it's from, well whatever you'll find out soon enough."

Then he turned on his heal and walked away, without another word. She was stunned, couldn't move. What in the world was Sirius Black doing talking to her. And what was this mysterious envelop he just gave her, What's up with that? Lily had a funny feeling about this envelop; it was purple and well just unusual. Although being as curious as she was, Lily tore open the purple envelope, when suddenly she was covered in a green slimy liquid.

Then she heard snickering from the stairwell, which then turned into outrageous laughter.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL!"- Lily screamed, well turning the corner to see the one and only. James Potter and his stupid friends, Sirius, Peter, and although Remus was usually kind he still took part in this terrible prank.

"h-hello, E-evanss" James said, trying to hold back his laughter. "H-how a-are y-you this fi-fine sat-Saturday morn-morning."

"Oh just fine actu- WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?" she responded, as angry as can be.

"common- lily it was just a harmless prank" said Remus trying to reason with her.

"H-HARMLESS?" now she was actually laughing, the fact the Remus, the smartest of the boys in their year could be so stupid. "WHAT THE HELL REMUS!" Lily screamed. "OF ALL PEOPLE, You had to go and side with them"

"common Lily, just take a deep breath and cal-"

But apparently Lily had had enough, because she stormed right past the Marauders right into the girl's dorm slamming the door behind her. For a minute the Marauders stood there frozen, "Lily couldn't actually be mad," thought James.

Although apparently Sirius had read his mind or something because he indeed responded to his question, "Yes James, she's mad."

But Lily wasn't mad, she was rather sad actually. For the only reason she ran from the Marauders was because she could no longer hold back her tears, this had not been the first prank that had been pulled on her by the Marauders. She was probably their number one target and she didn't understand what she had done to become this. Lily was hurt, usually Remus took her side, but this time he didn't and since none of her friends were there, Lily had no one.

* * *

"Prongs" said Remus, "maybe we should go and apologize, I'm starting to get the feeling that we really hurt her"

"Moony get this strait, there is no way in hell I am going to apologize, that would be utterly humiliating" responded Sirius way too quickly, obviously he hadn't given this idea much thought.

Before Remus could answer Sirius however, Lily's three best friends (Marlene, Alice and Mary) walked into the Gryffindor common room laughing uncontrollably. They started up the stairs but before they could even get to the second step, all for Marauders yelled at them to stop.

"What do you want boys?" responded Marlene for she was the only one actually able to speak to the Marauders seeing as she was on the Quidditch team with 3 of them and the other girls simple hated them.

"well...you.. see, umm.." explained James

"Common James, spit it out already" said an inpatient Marlene.

"well..we...might..have...but we didn't mean to hurt her" stammered James

"You're hopeless at explaining these types of things.. Remus?"

"Well, you see Marlene, James and well the rest of us thought it might be funny to play a little prank on Lily"

"YOU WHAT?" screamed Alice and Mary, running up the stairs to the girls dorm.

"I can't believe you four, why would you do it, it's barely even the second day back?" said Marlene sounding disappointed, she knew perfectly why they had done it, and they just might have gone too far this time.

They were a little stunned for Marlene had never sounded so disappointed; her opinion mattered the most to them and usually she said something like, Lily's just over exaggerating , but that phrase never came. Instead she just stood there, waiting for some kind of a response. Not knowing what to do say, the boys were relieve and a bit surprised when finally Peter, of all people, broke the silence.

"We never meant to hurt her" he whispered, only loud enough for Marlene and the other Marauders to hear.

Marlene was a little taken a-back for Peter never spoke (to her at least). Not knowing what to say to either of the boys, for she was so disappointed it was barely even the second day back for their sixth year and they've already started pranking Lily. So she turned on her heal and walked out, not wanting to speak to the Marauders any more.

When Marlene entered the girls dorm, Lily was in the shower, apparently when Mary and Alice had come in they had found her sitting on her four poster bed with the curtains closed crying her eyes out. Marlene was surprised to hear this because Lily never cried; in the five years that Marlene had been at Hogwarts with her, she had never once seen Lily cry. Apparently the surprise was clearly shown on her face for Alice started to retell the story she had heard from Lily.

"and well, what I could make out from what she was saying was that, well, it seems, she just couldn't take it anymore , I mean, she's been pranked so many times, and we haven't even been back for three days and well I guess she couldn't take it anymore because this time she just broke down and fell apart" said Alice, almost in a whisper.

"wow- " Marlene was at loss for words.

"Those Marauders, I swear to god, when I get my hands on them, why the bloody hell do they always have to do this?" threatened Mary.

"but surely you know why ?" asked Marlene, for she thought it was obvious. Although by the looks on Mary and Alice's faces she was the only one who thought this.

"They do it for James really," she added.

Even more confused than before, Marlene decided that it would be much easier just to tell them why they prank Lily, instead of trying to let them figure it out for themselves.

"The Marauders help James get Lily's attention, because well, he still fancies her."

"But I thought when he stopped asking her out, he stopped liking her..?"

Marlene shook her head and continued. "All he does is talk about her you know, it's kind of cute actually, and he's changed since fourth year, although you girls don't see it yet, he's much more mature, and these days, I'm pretty sure James... "

But before Marlene could finish, Lily stepped out of the bathroom and was now standing in the middle of the room, fully dressed and had a suspicious look on her face; they had not known this but Lily had overheard part of their conversation. Wishing not to start a fight between the girls, since they were so kind to her only minutes before, see headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Mary, definitely concerned about Lily.

"Well..." said Lily breaking the silence "I think I'm going to go down to the library, you know, study and such"

"Yeah alright, do you want us to come with you..." asked Alice

"no, no, I would rather be alone right n-"

But she wasn't able to finish for Marlene interrupted her "Lily, No one wants to be alone, common, we'll go with you"


	2. Chapter 2

**How did you like the first chapter? Please REVIEW. It's my first story and i would love feed back from anyone.**

**Hope you enjoy Chapter 2 ! :)**

**Have fun reading.**

**- Hulio  
**

* * *

As the four girls headed down to the library, they unfortunately had to pass the Marauders who were still sitting by the fire in the common room looking a bit worried. They were relieved to see that Lily was alright, and James was about to apologize, but Marlene had seen this coming and shot him a glance that clearly said, "Not now James, it won't help". So he stayed silent, and watched them as they left the common room.

"Prongs? PRONGS!" Sirius yelled, obviously he had been looking in the direction the girls just passed in way too long.

"Sorry, Padfoot... I...errr... zoned out, what did I miss?"

"well...Moony here was just about to lecture us about how wrong it was of us to pull that prank, wouldn't want you to miss that"

"He's right Padfoot... about pulling that prank, we shouldn't have done it" said James, almost in a whisper.

"Whhaaaatt?" said Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot.

"I need to apologize... right now..."

"I knew you'd come around sometime Prongs, I just didn't think it would be this soon." said Remus, a little shocked. "Alright well, off to the library!"

"Wait Moony, how do you know they'll be in the library..?" asked Sirius as James rolled his eyes, this was an obvious answer to which he simply replied. "Padfoot, when have we ever known Lily to not be in the library?"

* * *

The girls sat at Lily's favourite table in the back of the library where it was extra quiet. Although no one besides Lily really wanted to study, and sooner or later, realizing that studying wasn't going to be possible, Lily joined in the conversation, and within 5 minutes they were in a deep conversation about Alice and Frank, a Ravenclaw who was in six year (just like them) and who clearly fancied Alice.

"He definitely fancies you!" cried Lily.

"No he certainly does not!" screamed Alice

"Oh yes he does, why else would he send you poems, and make plans to meet up all summer and-"

"Oh alright! He fancies me, are you happy now?" asked Alice, a little annoyed.

"We most certainly are", responded Marlene

None of the girls seemed to notice the four Marauders walk into the library until James had said "hey...um...Evans, we..well..."

"We owe you an apology" finished Remus, seeing as James simply couldn't.

The girls were speechless, the Marauders, with the exception of Remus, have never been known to apologize, and they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"Umm...ex-excuse me" stammered Lily.

"God Lily! You're so stu-" said Sirius practically screaming, although he didn't finished for he received an un-necessary and rather painful kick from Remus.

"We're Sorry!" yelled James.

Heads turned, everyone in the library stopped working... Had they really just heard The Marauders apologize? No one in the library dared to move, for they were worried if they did, they might not get to hear the conversation that followed. So the library was silent and quieter then it had ever been. Finally, to everyone's relief, Lily broke the silence.

"Well then, she said, as long as you're sorry" then she picked up her books and headed towards the exit.

"That's it?" said James, in a whisper, but loud enough for her to hear.

"What's what Potter, you expect me to forgive you for all the pranks you've pulled just because you've said you _sorry."_

James had been in too many of these situations to know that if he answered this question he may as well walk into the forbidden forest unarmed because the response from Lily would have probably been much worse. Although he wasn't able to contain himself, so he responded.

"Well in case you haven't noticed, I don't apologize often. So yes, I did expect you to forgive me for I truly am sorry plus Evans, I've changed." At this moment James knew that he shouldn't have responded for Lily was now bursting with anger.

"POTTER I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU COULD BE SUCH AN IDIOT! AND I HAPPEN TO KNOW YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED, AFTER ALL IT WAS YOU COMING UP WITH ALL THE PRANKS, WASN'T IT?"

"Evans you... you don't understand"

"OH I UNDERSTAND ALRIGHT! YOU KNOW WHAT POTTER, JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME! ...forever" and with that Lily Evans was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well... said Alice, I'm suppose to go meet Frank, I'll talk to you guys...um... later" then she ran out of the library clearly not wanted to be there.

"And, I umm... have to... you know" said Mary, and she followed Alice out of the library.

"Marlene...?" started Sirius

"Oh James, I'm so sorry! Well Lily was in the shower, I was talking to Alice and Mary, and well, it might've come up... I'm so sorry, Lily always jumps to conclusions, and she probably didn't even hear the whole story... I swear James, I'll fix this." said Marlene, clearly upset that she was the cause of all this.

"No Marlene, don't" said James, the others gapped at him while he spoke. "She clearly never wants to see me again; I think...I'm just going to give up..."

While the others were in too much shock to respond, James left and looking extremely hurt, for Lily had never said anything that harsh to him.

"Prongs, man, wait!" cried Sirius running after him followed by Peter.

"Marlene..." started Remus, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Don't Remus, I know, it's entirely my fault, I'm a terrible friend, and I should've never... I mean at least not while she was in the other room..." she replied, worried

"It's not your fault, I mean, you couldn't- " but Remus was cut off, for Sirius was called to for him, apparently James had been so hurt and unwilling to talk to anyone that he hexed Peter and Sirius now needed help bringing him to the hospital wing. "I'm sorry, but I have to go, we'll talk later" said Remus as he got up from the table. And there Marlene sat; feeling just like Lily had felt only a few hours before. Completely alone...

* * *

**I'm sorry for how short this chapter is, it's manly just continues chapter 2.**

**I promise chapter 4 will be longer. **

**Enjoy your reading and don't forget to REVIEW**

**- Hulio  
**


	4. Chapter 4

They didn't talk later; it felt like she hadn't spoken with any of the Marauders for the past 2 weeks. Nor had anyone else, she barely even saw them around; it's like they have a secret room that they've been spending all their time in. The only time she ever saw the boys, at meals but every time she tried to talk to them they would just run away from her.

Finally she had her chance to confront them; she was walking around the halls late at night, after curfew, for she had simply had enough of Lily talking about how much she hated James, when suddenly she heard the voices of Remus, James and Sirius. She then spun around only to find that they had just appeared from a portrait with a large fruit bowl on the front of it.

"What the bloody hell..?" she said, as Remus, James and Sirius jumped, obviously they hadn't noticed her.

"oh...err..hey Marlene.." replied Remus.

Whispering, she asked "have you guy been avoiding me?"

Obviously she had caught them off guard with this question, for they just stood there, not knowing what to reply exactly.

Then James broke the silence "No...It's just...well..."

"We thought you wouldn't want to speak to us, you were so disappointed in us and then with that whole situation in the library, we thought you would be mad, maybe even yell at us" said Sirius

Everyone was speechless toward his response; they had never known Sirius to actually be serious about something. She took her chance well it was silent to explain that she wasn't mad, and although she was a bit disappointed she finally came to the conclusion that Lily was in fact, over exaggerating. Then, just like that, everything between them was better, and they loudly made their way back to the common room.

Thankfully, when they returned, the common room was empty and seeing as it was late, they all decided to go up to bed. Marlene happily lay down in her bed knowing that tomorrow was going to be a good day, the problems between the Marauders and her had been resolved. Going to bed in a good mood, the second her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

* * *

**This might not be completely relevant but i felt like i needed to write about the Marauders and Marlene making up. **

**Anyway, chapter 4 isn't as long as i wanted it to be. But chapter 5 is much longer. **

**Please enjoy reading, and please Review. **

**- Hulio  
**


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, at around 5am, James woke up. Any normal person would be asleep at 5am but James always told himself that the early bird catches the worm. Plus he also really loved to watch the sun rise in the morning. Yet, he had never told anyone that, for it would be simply humiliating. _A new day_, he thought to himself as the run rose making the sky dance with the bright yellows and oranges. _Maybe today will be the day Lily will finally say yes to going out with me, it's all I've ever wanted, no matter how many other girls I've been with, she'll always be __**the one**_**. **He looked at the sky once more, now there was a beautiful red and James couldn't help but think about Lily beautiful long red hair... and how cute she looked when she studied... Oh and her eyes, her beautiful green eyes... Hold on, what was he thinking; Lily never wanted to see him again... "Why can't she just love me back?" he asked not expecting a reply, and was seriously surprised when someone answered.

"So, you love her Prongsyy?"

_Oh shit!_ James thought, _did I really just say that out loud, I'll never hear the end of this_, "what are you doing up this early Sirius?" a little frightened.

"I've been up all night; I couldn't get to sleep because of Wormtail's extremely loud snoring. You're lucky, you can sleep through anything." he replied casually.

"Ha, yeah, a habit I've developed."

"So what about, Lily not loving you back?" he asked with a giant grin forming across his face.

"Well...I...I think... I love her"

"WOOHOO! JAMES POTTER FINALLY ADMITS HIS LOVE FOR EVANS!" yelled Sirius

"Oi, Sirius keep it down!" replied James in a whisper-shout.

"POTTER LOVES EVANS, POTTER LOVE EVANS!" James was as red as a radish, boy was he embarrassed. And Sirius wouldn't stop yelling, so James took out his wand and put a silencing spell on him.

Sirius was furious; he did not like being silenced. He wanted to rub it in his face...he was right, James loves Evans!

"haha!, y-you sh-should see you-you're face right n-now, you l-look –" but James was stopped mid sentence for the charm had worn off and Sirius yelled "levicorpus" and he was now suspended upside-down in mid-air by his ankles.

"Padfoot" growled James. "Where did you learn that?" he yelled excitedly.

"Um... I heard Snivellus cast it on a first year once; I thought it might come in handy..."

"It's brilliant! What was the spells again?" asked James, still suspended upside-down in mid-air.

"Levicorpus" Sirius responded clearly proud of himself and the spell he had just cast.

"oh alright," said James reaching for his wand "Levicorpus" he said pointing it at Sirius and before he knew it, Sirius was suspended upside-down in mid-air, just like James.

"Prongs! You idiot! I don't know the counter curse! But that was –haha- bloody –ha- brilliant, I didn't see that coming at all" he replied, lightly chuckling, definitely proud of his best friend.

"Well, I guess were stuck like this, until either the spell wears off, or until Moony or Wormtail wakes up." Said James, a bit annoyed.

"But Prongsy, I doubt that Wormtail will even know the counter curse- "

"Yes... But he'll be able to wake up Remus for us."

It was now 7:30am, "oh great" James said "we're going to be stuck like this forever"

"Common Prongs, keep your head up, they could wake up any minute now" replied Sirius, hope in his eyes.

"I highly doubt that, you said so yourself back in second year, Moony and Wormtail can sleep through anything."

After a few minutes of silence Sirius yelled "JAMES! WE'RE WIZARDS!"

"Yes, Sirius... Remember, that's the reason why were stuck like this, because of magic..."

"No you idiot, that's not what I meant. I mean we can use magic to wake Remus up!"

"Seriously, Padfoot. You couldn't have thought of this...I donno... like an hour ago?"

Ignoring what James had just said. "How should we wake him Prongsyy?" said Sirius with an evil look in his eye.

"I was thinking water..."

"Aguamenti!" cried Sirius, and with a loud shriek Remus was up.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you!" said Remus looking towards Sirius and James' bed only to find that they weren't in them. Instead they were hanging upside-down... "Why are you on the ceiling?"

"Levicoperus..." replied James.

"Lemme guess. Padfoot used Levicoperus on you and then you used it on him to get back. But Sirius didn't know the counter curse so you've just been hanging there waiting for me to wake up... Although when I didn't you decided to shower me with freezing cold water?"

"Correct! 10 points for Moony!" said Sirius

"Now can you please let us down Moony, I'm starting to feel a tad dizzy and I lost the feeling in my legs about a half an hour ago." asked a surprisingly polite James.

"Liberacorpus" said Remus, and he laughed at his friends fell to the ground with a huge THUD! Scaring Peter causing him to fall of his bed onto the floor.

"Liberacorpus, I need to remember that for next time" muttered Sirius under his breath.

"Alright boys," said James "shall we head down to breakfast?"

"Yeah, we would hate to be late for the first day of classes" said Remus

They all agreed, then quickly changed out of their PJ's and headed down stairs to the great hall for food

* * *

**Expect something big in the next chapter ;)**

**Hope you enjoyed reading :)**

**And please remember to Review, i would love to hear from you.**

**- hulio  
**


	6. Chapter 6

Upon entering the great hall, they settled down at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table, and started devouring the food in front of them. To focused on eating none of the four Marauders had noticed professor McGonagall passing out class schedules.

"Schedules boys!" said professor McGonagall, passing them their time tables, and then she continued down the table.

"Arggg..." groaned Sirius, "double potion this morning! Slughorn hates me! Defence this afternoon though, that should be good."

"Yeah...but we'll all be together, so that's a plus." said James, comparing his and Sirius' schedules. Oddly enough, they had every class together.

"And we'll be with the Gryffindor girls too... right James" said Moony, grinning.

"Shut it Moony" said James under his breath

"But we won't all be together" said Peter "I don't have potions until Thursday"

"And by the looks of it Peter, you only have herboligy with me on Wednesday and Defence with all of us tomorrow..." said Remus comparing the schedules.

"I'm sorry Wormtail that really sucks!" said Sirius

_It really did suck_, thought James. Although that was his last thought on the matter seeing as Lily Evans and her friends had just got up from the Gryffindor table and were leaving the Great Hall. He watched as she laughed along and smiled with them. Oh how he loved her smile, and the fact her green eyes twinkled when she did. _If only she would smile at me... Man,_ _she's beautiful, and hopefully one day she'll be mine._ He thought.

"What's wrong with James?" asked Peter.

"He's thinking about Evan's obviously..." replied Sirius

"Err... No Padfoot, he's just creepily staring at her, for she's getting up to leave" responded Remus, in a matter-of-fact kind of way. "Don't look now, but she just noticed him staring, oh boy..."

"Oh bloody hell Prongs... what are you doing?" cried Sirius, as James got up and started to walk towards her.

"This can't be good" said Remus.

James had heard Remus, but chose to ignore him; this might be his last chance to talk to Lily. He had to take it and didn't have time to fight with Remus

"Evans..." said James catching up with her.

At this all four girls stopped, Marlene reacting instinctively and placing herself in between Lily and James. "What are you doing James?" whispered Marlene.

"I need to speak with Lily..." he whispered back

"James... I really don't think that's a good id-"

"I know it's not, but I have to..." he replied, interrupting her and glancing over at Lily, who seemed to be eyeing them with curiosity

"Just don't hurt her again James... please..."

With that she gave him a quick smile and turned to Lily, gave her a nod and telling her that they would meet her in Potions. Then she took Alice and Mary and left the Great Hall.

"What is it Potter..?" said Lily afraid of what he was about to say, but trying to be strong.

"Evans...I need to tell you, how truly sorry I am...I really h-"but he stopped because at this moment he became aware that everyone in the entire great hall was watching them, including most of the teachers. "I really hate you being mad at me" he whispered only loud enough for her to hear.

"Potter...I...err"

"LILY!" at this everyone jumped, for no one expected it, although Lily and James didn't seem to notice. For at the same time someone had called her name, they realised how close they were standing to each other.

"LILY!" they called again, and finally she acknowledged it. "Yes..." she replied, calmly turned to see who was calling her.

"Lily what are you doing talking to James Potter!" the boy said with a disgraceful tone. And with that, James didn't even need to turn around, for he knew exactly who had interrupted them.

"Just talking Sev... just talking..." she said trailing off as if she was losing her train of thought.

"Alright well, I'm done eating. Let's get to Potions." This was not a question though; this was Severus telling Lily what to do.

"Well sure..." she replied, and with that, she was gone.

* * *

**If you liked chapter 6, just wait for chapter 7. **

**You're in for a surprise. **

**Please remember to REVIEW!**

**-Hulio  
**


	7. Chapter 7

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING LILY!" hollered Severus once they turned the corner.

"We were just talking Sev, calm down"

"IT DIDN'T LOOK LIKE YOU WERE JUST TALKING, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LILY, AFTER EVERYTHING HE'S DONE TO ME!"

"WELL MAYBE YOU'RE OVER REACTING! POTTER HAS CHANGED!" said Lily, angry that Sev could still think he's a terrible person. James had really meant that apology, maybe it's time to forgive him.

"WHATEVER LILY! IT'S HIM OR ME!"

"I can't believe you! You're completely over reacting... for Merlin sake, we were just talking..."

"You know what Lily, just forget it. Don't ever talk to me again..." he said, walking away from her.

"No Sev! Wait" she cried, catching his wrist, tears forming in her green eyes.

"Stay away from me! You filthy mud blood!" he yelled back, yanking his wrist from her grasp... When suddenly, he realized what he had just called her... "Oh no, Lily I'm sorry"

"Whatever Sev." She whispered, turning on her heal, tears streaming down her face.

"But lily."

"JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME SEVERUS!" and with that, she ran, all the way up to the Gryffindor common room, and locking herself in the girls dorm room.

* * *

"Sorry Professor!" cried James as he ran into potions, five minutes late, followed by Siruis and Remus.

"No worries my dear boy! We've only just started" Professor Slughorn replied while turned back to address the rest of the class... "As I was saying, you have the remaining hour to make your most impressive love potion. You may begin"

While Remus took his usual seat at Mary, Alice and Frank's table, Sirius and James headed toward the work station where Marlene was seated, although, Lily wasn't there. As they sat down, Marlene looked up from her caldron, a worried expression plastered all over her face.

"H-have y-you seen L-lily?" she stammered while taking another glance at the door to the classroom.

"She's not here...?" asked Sirius looking around the classroom.

"No," replied James and Marlene at the same time.

"She's never late, especially seeing as it's the first day of the new semester, something must have happened... I need to go find her, but Slughorn will definitely not let me go." Continued Marlene

"I'll go," said James, "Slughorn loves me, and he'll let me go."

"Prongs, are you sure that's a good idea, after what happened this morning..." questioned Sirius.

"Nothing happened this morning! We talked, that's it." He whisper-shouted back

After a moment of silence, it was finally broken.

"Go James..." said Marlene "Check the common room, the Great Hall and – "

"The library, I know" said James, getting up from the table.

"Hey Prongsy, Good luck" called Sirius after him

"Thanks Padfoot" and then he was gone.

* * *

**ah ha. **

**I hoped you liked it.**

**Please Review !  
**

**- Hulio  
**


	8. Chapter 8

James knew Lily wouldn't be in the Great hall, the only person he would expect to find in the Great hall when class was in session was Sirius. He didn't expect her to be in the library, although she was a nerd, a very cute nerd he thought, she wasn't that much of a nerd that she would be in the library the first day back. He then decided that the most likely place she would be was in the common room. So he continued running down the hall, only slowing to turn corners for he didn't want to run into any teachers.

Lily didn't know what time it was, or how long she had been crying. All she knew was that she didn't want to be around anyone, Severus had hurt her too much. He had called her... but why would he call her that, he was suppose to be her friend. The last time she checked friends didn't call each other things like that, because it really didn't matter to them. But apparently her blood status mattered to Severus; she was never going to be able to forgive him for this, even if he wanted to be forgiven. Then she dissolved into more tears, realizing that she just lost an amazing friend. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and then she heard it open.

"Lily..." the voice said.

She was sure it was James this time. "Yea..." she replied pulling herself together and looking up

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fin-"

"Have you been crying Lily?" asked James, clearly concerned. Realizing that she had been, he pulled her into a tight hug. Then he brought her down to the common room and they sat in front of the fire where she dissolved into tears once again. Oddly enough, Lily found herself telling James everything that had happened. He cringed when she told him that Snape had called her a mud blood but he waited with her until she had stopped crying. They sat in silence for a bit until Lily asked "Why are you here James? How did you find me?"

"I'm here and I found you, because I care" he replied calmly, not daring to look into her eyes. Then to James' surprise she hugged him, and then suggested they go to lunch. He agreed, swung his arm around her and they walked down toward the Great hall.

* * *

"Can you stop eating, aren't you worried at all? James could be dead for all you know." said a still nervous Marlene.

"Won't you calm down. Prongs can handle himself, plus I happen to know for a fact that they're on their way down now" Sirius responded winking.

"What do you mean by that" Marlene asked.

"He means nothing!" cried Remus, giving Sirius a big kick under the table.

"mhmm, okay sure." She said dropping the conversation and taking another glance at the doors of the Great Hall.

...

"James" said Lily "he's in there; I can't..."

"Lily, you've got nothing to be afraid of, I'm here and all your friends are in there too. Be strong Lily, I know you can do it" replied James, giving her his charming smile.

"James, I d-don't th-think I can"

"Well alright then" he said looking a little disappointed "I'll just send Marlene out then."

"Would you please" she asked. "oh and James, thank you" then with another hug, James turned and walked into the great hall, absolutely beaming for Lily Evans was no longer mad at him.

"Speak of the devil" said Sirius looking in James' direction

"James! Oh sweet Merlin! Where's Lily?"cried Marlene standing up

"She didn't want to come in, she's waiting for you outside" replied James, who couldn't help but look so happy, and with that, Marlene practically ran out of the Great Hall.

"What's got you in such a great mood Prongsy?" asked Sirius

"Obviously Lily," replied Remus

"Shut it Moony" said James under his breath

"It's true though, isn't it Prongs?"

"I said shut it Moony!"

"Oh common Prongsy, tell us what's... I mean who's got you smiling like that" said Sirius

"Alright fine, but remember, I don't like her" stated James

"Ha-ha! Sure Prongs" said Peter.

While Remus and Sirius burst out into laughter, James gave Peter a dirty look then dove into the story, he told it from the moment he left class to the very moment Sirius had seen him enter the Great Hall. He was beaming; nothing could ruin his day, or so he thought. When suddenly he heard a voice, the voice that belonged to Snevillus. He hated that bloke, and he wasn't going to get away with this. Drawing his wand James started to get up.

"Prongs don't do it." said Remus. "He's not worth it"

After what seemed like a long pause, James finally decided that it wouldn't do any good to start a fight in the middle of the Great Hall. It would probably just end in him getting another detention. "Alright" he said, taking his seat once more "but he can't just get away with it"

Then after a laps of maniacal laughter Sirius spoke "I think a prank is in order" and with a wink the planning began.

* * *

**Ah ha! **

**I like this chapter, although chapter nines going to be better ;)**

**You should be excited, i sure am :)**

**Please remember to Review ! **

**- Hulio  
**


	9. Chapter 9

_Later in the Gryffindor common room_

"Alright so... Let's go over the plan one more time" said Remus

"Oh common Moony, do we have to...?" wined Sirius

Ignoring his comment, Remus continued "So Prongs, are you sure you still want to do this?"

"Positive" said James

"Alright, on that note, tomorrow morning, once we locate his dot on the map, Sirius, James and I will get under the invisibility cloak and follow him. Once his alone, Sirius will jump out from under the cloak and cause a distraction. While he's not paying attention, I will cast the charm on him, with help from James. Then I'll give the signal and we run, got it?"

"Just one question" said Sirius "When does the charm start to work"

"Well Padfoot, the charm will start to work the moment it is activated. To activate it any of us have to just point our wand at Severus and mutter the word _Marauder_, and then it should start. Oh and to stop it we just have to repeat _Marauder._"

"Great! I can't wait, but I'm going to bed" said Peter.

They all agreed and soon everyone was lying in their four poster beds. Peter and Remus were asleep in seconds, and once James heard the snoring he illuminated his wand and pulled out the Marauders Map. Sirius curious to what James was doing, climbed out of bed and drew open the curtains around his four poster bed.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked excitedly

"Keep your voice down! I'm just watching the Map." he said in a quiet tone

"Haha, watching Lily's dot are you, mate?"

"No, as a matter of fact I wasn't... But wait... Speaking of Lily, where is she?" He asked looking down at the Map. Lily's dot did not appear to be in the girl's dormitory. "There she is" said Sirius pointing her out on the Map for James "but why is she all the way in the dungeons?"

"Oh no! This can't be good, look who she's about to run into!" said James pointing at 2 dots turning down the corridor and walking toward Lily's dot. "Oh Merlin!" he whisper-shouted "It's Snape and Mullciber"

"You're right James, this can't be good..." said Sirius, as James hopped off his bed and grabbed his invisibility cloak. "Common!" said James "Let's go"

* * *

Lily needed air, after everything that had happened today she just couldn't stand to be cooped up in her dormitory anymore. She was well aware that she wasn't supposed to be wandering around the castle at night, but she had a really good excuse. Plus, she thought to herself, who else would be wandering the castle at 1am. Although to her surprise, there were others out and about that night, and she only became aware that she was being followed when one of the two spoke.

"Hey Mudblood!" shouted Mullciber

Lily's heart stopped, this can't be good she thought. I'd better get a grip on my wand, just in case. Oh no! Where's my wand, I couldn't have... No, no, I remember picking it up off my bedside table.

"Looking for this?" asked the second voice, waving what appeared to be her wand in front of him.

"How did you get my wand...?"she stammered

"You should be more aware of your objects Evans! We picked it up when it fell out of that huge hole in your robe." said Mullciber with an evil grin.

There was no hole in her robes. They must have summoned it when she wasn't paying attention, great. Now I'm unarmed with no one else around to help me.

"What do you say about teaching the Mudblood here a little lesson? Huh Snape?" asked Mullciber

"Sounds good to me" responded Snape.

"Alright", he said turning back to Lily drawing his wand "CRUSIO!"

Lily had not been expecting this, she fell to the ground and trembled for the pain was unbearable. Her screams filled the corridor, if only someone would hear her. Why did she have to be in the dungeons? Anywhere else in the castle her scream would've woken someone up. There was no hope so Lily just lay there, cowering in pain for she could no longer stand.

"Common Severus, now it's your turn"

He couldn't, no he wouldn't Lily thought, up until this morning they had been friends. He was her friend! Yet, the hopes of ever repairing their friendship vanished when she saw him raise his wand towards her. She was crying now, but she fought through the pain that she was still feeling from the first blast and the tears ,Lily finally managed to speak... "Severus..." she pleaded, "please... don't do it". It took all her effort to say this, but it made no difference for a moment afterward she screamed once more, she could not bear to live with the pain, and she felt herself begging them to stop, but they wouldn't.

"Well done Severus, I'm sure the dark lord will be please to have you." Said Mullciber, and then she heard footsteps, they were leaving. Once Lily was certain they had turned the corner she felt as if she should try to get back to the dorm. Although the moment she tried to stand up, her knees gave in and she felt more pain, so Lily lay there, feeling extremely weak.

_A few seconds earlier _

"Prongs! Did you hear that?" asked Sirius, for he thought he had heard a distant scream

"It sounded like... Lily..." responded James, and with that, he continued at full sprint down the hall way, forgetting the invisibility cloak, and turned the corner to see Lily cowering in pain on the ground. He ran towards her and knelt down right beside her. "Lily..."he whispered, holding her in his arms, "Lily... what did they do to you?"She could barely bring herself to open her eyes, she felt so very weak, but she knew she was safe now that she was near him.

James didn't move. He was waiting for an answer, a movement of some sort, to make sure she was still alive. Relief swept over him when he felt her move slightly in his arms, yet that relief was gone when she whispered "Cruciatus Curse"

He now couldn't move, had she really just said what he think she had said... No, they weren't aloud to do that type of magic at Hogwarts, he must of heard her wrong, he thought. Although all hope that he had heard her wrong vanished once Sirius spoke.

"Prongs" he cried picking up Lily's wand "Did she really just say...never mind...We need to get her to the hospital wing!"

So the two boys picked her up and ran as fast as they could all the way to the Hospital wing.

* * *

"Madame Pomfrey!" hollered James as the ran through the doors

"What do you boys think you're doing...? Oh sweet Merlin" she cried finally realizing why they were here at 2 o'clock in the morning. "Put her over here boys," she said pointing to the bed in the far corner. She then ran into the back and came out of her office baring many healing potions. "Now boys I need you to tell me everything that happened!"

"Well, we were taking a mid-night stroll, when we heard a distant scream" said Sirius, for James was absolutely speechless, he just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Lily had been tortured... "And well we ran up to her, and after a few minutes she muttered two words."

"And what were these words Mr. Black" she asked patiently.

"She said, Cruciatus Curse... which can only mean..."

"Oh sweet Merlin" she cried interrupting Sirius. "Mr. Black, you must go and get Professor Dumbledore right this instant" And with a quick nod, he ran from the room.

"James" she said sweetly, "I want you to go up to bed, you need to rest" but he shook his head, for he was definitely not leaving, noticing this she continued "well alright then, but drink this it's a calming drought, it'll help."

He nodded in agreement and took the cup, James was speechless. Maybe if he had been there just a few seconds earlier he could've saved her or helped her at least. It's my entire fault, he thought, and that's all he thought for the rest of the night. He sat there in silence and watched Madame Pomfrey heal Lily, she looked so sad and so hurt, James couldn't help but feel guilty for Lily's injury. Then Dumbledore entered. "Madame Pomfrey, please tell me Mr. Black is just playing another one of his pranks on me..?"

"No, I'm afraid not, Lily Evans was indeed tortured tonight..." she said, looking up at him. Then the room feel silent once more.

"Will she be alright?" James managed to ask.

But before she could answer Dumbledore spoke.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black, I feel as if it would be much better if you went off to bed, for i would like to speak to Madame Pomfrey alone. You may visit Ms. Evans tomorrow morning, after a good night's rest."

After much argument, they finally agreed, and they dragged their feet all the way back up to the common room. Sirius was fast asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, yet James couldn't get to sleep. He was too busy worrying about Lily... It was all my fault, he thought while giving a big yawn. Then James felt himself get really tired, darn, he thought, Madame Pomfrey must have combined the calming drought with a sleeping potion as well and with that he was asleep. Although even with the sleeping potion, James did not sleep well, he had nightmares about Lily being tortured all night long, and in everyone, it ended up being his fault. He was awoken from his nightmares five times that night, until finally after the sixth time he'd been woken up, he decided that there was no use in sleeping, so he stayed up. On the upside, James awoke only a few minutes before sunrise and enjoyed watching the colours dance in the sky. After watching the sunrise he finally realized that it didn't feel right sitting in his room, he wouldn't be comfortable until he knew that Lily was safe. Therefore he got up, changed out of his Pj's, grabbed the invisibility cloak and walked to the Hospital Wing.

When he entered, he realized how deserted it was. Lily was the only one in the Hospital Wing, so he took off the invisibility cloak and sat beside her bed in a chair. James just sat there and watched her sleep, she looked peaceful. Well definitely more peaceful then she looked last night, he thought. Then it occurred to him that if anyone had seen him, this might look really strange, but he didn't care. He was just making sure she was safe, and the only way to do that was to be there with her. While he sat there, he found himself getting more and more relaxed knowing she was safe, and then, before he knew it, he was sound asleep.

"Prongs!" Sirius called, and James jolted awake.

"Do you still want to do this," asked Remus "Sirius told me what happened, if you don't want –"

"No Moony," interrupted James "I definitely want to"

* * *

And with that the three Marauders (for Peter was supposed to be monitoring the Map and if there was someone that might cause the plan to back fire, he was to make a distraction.) slipped under the invisibility cloak and went to find Snape. Once they located his position the plan worked perfectly, he was easily distracted fighting with Sirius and he didn't even notice Remus and James cast the spell on him. Then they ran back to the dormitory as planned, leaving Snape utterly confused.

"Good job" said Peter as they entered the dorm.

"I can't wait until breakfast when we activate it" said Sirius with an evil grin. Then James started maniacally laughing and after a few moments they were all howling with laughter.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it :)**

**Next chapter, the prank. **

**- Hulio  
**


	10. Chapter 10

The four Marauders sat in the Great Hall waiting for Snevillus to enter. They waited and waited, then finally Marlene, Alice and Mary walked in. Then to everyone's surprise they sat down next to the Marauders.

"What's up girls" asked Sirius, throwing his arm around Marlene.

"Lily..." she said looking up at him "and thank you both" she said to James and Sirius, removing his arm from around her shoulders. James and Sirius both acknowledged what she had said and returned to her breakfast. "When is she being let out?" asked James, breaking the silence that had fallen over them only a few seconds before.

"Madame Pomfrey said she'll be much better by tomorrow" replied Mary, who couldn't seem to keep her eyes off Remus. Noticing this, Alice nudged her, and she shook out of the trance she was in, and continued "so, yeah, she'll probably be let out tomorrow sometime or maybe even today... No one really knows"

"Oh alright..." Replied James, "Have you talked to her yet?" he asked Marlene

But before she could answer, James received a kick from Sirius under the table, he knew what this meant, Snape had entered the Great Hall. So, without hesitation James turned around and nonchalantly took out his wand then proceeded to point in Snapes direction.

"James what the hell are you doing?" whisper-shouted Marlene

"Calm down Marlene, just sit back and relax" said Sirius

Then, after Marlene gave James the go-ahead nod, he muttered the word Marauder under his breath and suddenly charmed water balloons seemed to be flying from all directions and within seconds Snevillus was soaked from head to toe. The girls were in shock, and then to the Marauders surprise, all three girls burst into laughter.

"Haha! I can't believe you guys did that" Marlene managed to say before dissolving into uncontrollable laughter again.

They all beamed, they were extremely proud of the prank they had just pulled, plus James finally felt satisfied, revenge was sweet.

"WHO DID THIS?" they heard Snape yell from across the Great Hall, "POT-" but he didn't finish for another water balloon had hit him right it the face. And with that, the Marauders could no longer control their laughter, and joined the rest of the Great Hall amusement.

They were all too busy laughing to realize Professor McGonagall was walking toward them, and they had only become aware of her when she spoke. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew, my office, **now**" and then she continued out of the Great Hall, expecting them to follow.

"You guys are in for it," said Marlene, still smiling and trying extremely hard to control her laughter.

"It was definitely worth it," replied James with a shrug. The other three nodded in agreement, and then they all followed Prof. McGonagall out of the Great Hall.

* * *

"Boys," she said shaking her head, once they had entered her office. "I heard what happened to Lily Evans this morning, but that doesn't mean you can go around pranking students for revenge."

"Um, excuse me Professor... But what happened to Lily?" asked Peter, apparently Sirius had not told him, just Remus.

She sighed, apparently Peter had not yet found out. "You may go Mr. Pettigrew, obviously you took no part, or very little part in this prank" and with that he nodded, told the other three that he would meet them in class then left. Once Peter had closed the door, Professor McGonagall turned on the three remaining..."Alright, well for you three. I understand you must be upset, what happened this morning was absolutely terrible and there will be punishment but..." she said turning to James "Please remember that they are innocent until proven guilty"

"Sorry to interrupt Professor, but you heard what he did, we couldn't just let him get away with it" said Sirius.

"Yeah... It would just be completely unfair" added Remus.

"I understand boys, but seeing as you do not have any proof, I would ask you to not pull any more pranks on Mr. Snape. You will not serve detention for this prank, but if you pull any others there will be punishment, and that is a promise." She said glaring at them "oh and knowing you three, you've probably put a password protected charm on Mr. Snape. So I would ask you to remove this charm within the next hour or so" she said with a smile. Then they were dismissed, glad to have gotten away with this one, for a detention would've interfered with Quidditch try outs.

"Well I don't know about you two, but I'm going back to the Great Hall to finish eating" stated Sirius.

"I think I might just join you Padfoot" said Lupin "Prongs... You coming?"

"No thanks Moony, I've got some stuff I need to do... I'll see you in class" replied James, and then they went their separate ways. Although before James could turn the corner Sirius yelled back "Say hi to Lily for me!" James rolled his eyes at Sirius and turned down the next corridor toward the Hospital Wing.


	11. Chapter 11

_Although before James could turn the corner Sirius yelled "Say hi to Lily for me!" James rolled his eyes, and turned down the next corridor toward the Hospital Wing._ It was true; he was going to see Lily. She was all he ever thought about, and he just needed to see her, and make sure she was safe. Upon entering the Hospital Wing he noticed once again that it was entirely empty besides Lily in the far corner. She appeared to be sleeping but once James had sat down she sat up.

"Hey Lily" he said, a little dumbfounded.

"Hey James," she replied, since when had he started calling her Lily, she thought, and since when did she call him James. I'm just so confused, did that actually happen last night?

"How are you feeling?"

"Well alright, but James, I have a question for you, I already asked Marlene, Alice and Mary but they didn't answer me, and Madame Pomfrey just sort of shook her head and walked away when I asked her..."

"Lily, ill answer you honestly...I promise"

"Alright well then...answer me this... What exactly happened last night?"

James had been silently praying to himself that she wouldn't ask this, he'd still been wishing that it had all been a dream and he hadn't yet found the courage to talk about the incident with anyone yet. Although he did just promise her therefore he would have to dig deep and find his courage.

"Well Lily, I'm not 100% sure." At this she sighed "but I'll tell you what I know" he said

"Alright," she said preparing herself for what she was about to hear "go ahead"

And with a deep breath he started."While Sirius and I were on a walk, you know, wandering the castle like we always do." he lied, he wasn't going to tell her that they invented a Map that showed everyone and where they were in Hogwarts. That he had been watching her dot when he saw Mullsiber and Snape walking towards her... No he thought, that would be really creepy. "And well," he continued "we heard a scream, and we ran down the hall and found you, lying on the ground and-"

"Wait James..." she said, and he stopped "I don't want to hear the rest..." she said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I know what happened... I was just hoping that... I had hit my head or something... hoping that it all had been a dream."

"Me too Lily... me too" he said, lying down next to her, and letting her rest her head on his chest. While they lay there in good kind of silence, James couldn't help but think to himself that this felt so right, being there to protect her and them lying together. Did Lily feel how right this was..?

Why did this feel so nice, thought Lily, up until 2 days ago, I hated James Potter...No, Marlene couldn't be right...could she...no...I don't fancy James... No! Definitely not, that's just ridiculous. I'm just a little... confused... from what happened last night.

They lay there in silence and just enjoyed each others company; they could have stayed together all day, although they were forced to break apart when Headmaster Dumbledore walked into the Hospital Wing, catching them both by surprise, and he smiled at them when James jumped off the bed and back into the chair. "Good morning Ms. Evans! How are you feeling?" he asked, approaching the bed where she lay.

"Better," she replied, looking in James' direction

"I'm sure," responded Dumbledore, winking at James. "Although I am truly sorry but Mr. Potter must be going for classes are about to start and seeing as it's only the second day back, you shouldn't be late. You can visit Ms. Evans after class."

"Yea, thanks Professor, I guess we just sort of... lost track of time..." James said getting up and heading toward the door.

"Oh and Mr. Potter" called Dumbledore after him "I expect you, Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin to clean up the water around the school..."

"Of course Professor" replied James, now beaming.

And then he left. Although Headmaster Dumbledore had not said it, James could tell by the look on his face when he mentioned the prank that he was clearly amused by it.

* * *

James ran into class, late once again. Thankfully his tardiness went unnoticed by Professor Thring, the defense against the dark arts teacher, so he quickly took his rightful seat next to Sirius.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't you mate." asked Sirius, letting out a chuckle.

"Shut it Padfoot" responded James, turning red.

"Moony" cried Sirius, "Look at this, Prongsy here is blushing"

Noticing this, Remus and Sirius burst into laughter, causing James to blush even more than before...

Although right before James thought that he was about to die due to the embarrassment he was enduring, Professor Thring looked up from the projector he'd been trying to get started, "Alright" he said, turning the projector on. "Can anyone tell me what's so special about Friday night...? No, well that's a little disappointing." He said frowning. "Well, for your information, this Friday night happens to be a full moon."

At this Remus flinched, he knew perfectly well about this Friday, his life revolved around the nights when there was a full moon.

"Now , since you were late, you wouldn't mind telling me what kind of creature is most affected by the full moon" he said turning to James.

"Um, well sir, if I'm not mistaken, it's the werewolf..." replied James, feeling a little sad for Remus inside.

"Alright, could you now please tell me the difference between a werewolf and an anamagus?" he asked

"Well sir...An anamagus is a witch or wizard who can morph himself or herself into a specific animal at will... But you see sir, a werewolf has no choice" James once again felt another throbbing pain for Remus.

"You are correct, 5 points to Gryffindor" said Professor Thring. "Great well...because you all seem to know so much about werewolves and anamigi, I want two rolls of parchment on how to distinguish between the two, on my desk by Monday morning.

"But sir!" cried Sirius. "It's Quidditch Saturday."

"No excuse Mr. Black, especially from you four." He said turning to the four Marauders, and then going back to the lesson.

* * *

"What the bloody hell is his problem" yelled Sirius as they were leaving the class and heading toward to Great Hall.

"Please Padfoot, Not here." Begged Remus

"But surely he doesn't know...?" whispered James

"I don't know Prongs, but please, not here!" Remus said once more, as they walked into the Great Hall sitting down at their usual spot.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it :)**

**Please Review!  
**

**- Hulio  
**


	12. Chapter 12

_"What the bloody hell is his problem" yelled Sirius as they were leaving the class and heading toward to Great Hall._

_"Please Padfoot, Not here." Begged Remus_

_"But surely he doesn't know...?" whispered James_

_"I don't know Prongs, but please, not here!" Remus said once more, as they walked into the Great Hall sitting down at their usual spot._

"Well on a completely unrelated topic, Quidditch tryouts Sunday, Moony and Padfoot, I expect you there" said James "this is our year; Gryffindor is going to win the cup!"

"Count me in!" yelled Sirius

"Me too, although, I might be a little off my game. You know...tired" said Remus

"Great!" said James shoveling more food onto his plate

A few minutes later, Marlene and Mary joined them.

"Hey boys!" said Marlene,

"Hey Marlene, Quidditch tryouts Sunday, I expect you to be there!" said James as she and Mary sat down.

"Don't worry, I will be" she replied.

"Hey...um...Where's Alice?" asked Peter

"Oh she's sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Frank" said Mary giggling.

"So um... guys..." started Marlene "You see we were just upstairs with Lily, and well, she wasn't too pleased at the prank you pulled this morning..."

"Oh Merlin..." sighed James

"And well, we also need to warn you that...-"continued Mary

"JAMES POTTER!" cried Lily sitting down with them

"Lily's on her way down" she finished, muttering under her breath.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!"

"Lily let me explain..."

"NO FORGET IT POTTER, YOU KNEW HOW I WOULD REACT AND YOU WENT AHEAD AND DID IT ANYWAY!"

"Lily," interrupted Sirius, "James had nothing to do with it, it was my idea"

"WHATEVER BLACK! THAT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING" she replied storming away.

"Oh sweet Merlin" he said not loud enough for Lily to hear "LILY WAIT!" He yelled getting up and running out after her.

_Out in the corridor_

"Lily just calm down," James said, grabbing her wrist "you know why I did it, but I'm sorry, I just couldn't let him get away with it, it just wouldn't have been fair."

"JAMES I REALLY DON'T CARE RIGHT NOW!"

Although he didn't respond, for their conversation was rudely interrupted by none other than Severus. "Awe, isn't this cute..."

"Shut up Snevillus!" yelled James

"Don't call him that!" cried Lily, turning on James.

Snape then cut in "I don't need a Mudblood to defend me!"

They both turned back to Snape.

"Mudblood" Lily repeated in a whisper and walked away, clearly hurt.

All Lily wanted at that moment was to get out of there; she couldn't give Severus the satisfaction of making her cry. So she walked away as tears streamed down her cheeks, why did he have to be so mean to her, she thought and after everything that he did this morning... Then she broke into a run, but was caught by surprise when someone grabbed her arm. "Lily stop" James said, spinning her around and hugging her tightly. With that she felt her worries go away, for she felt safe in his arms.

* * *

**A really short chapter. **

**The next one will be longer i promise.**

**Please Review. **

**- Hulio  
**


	13. Chapter 13

The rest of the week continued as normal, Lily avoided Severus as much as possible to prevent another break down, James stayed by her side no matter what and classes were as boring as usual. The only thing that actually changed was the event that happened on Friday, the night of the full moon. The Marauders were seated in the common room by the fire after dinner, waiting for it to empty so they could go down to the shrieking shack without being noticed, when they were joined by Lily, Marlene and Mary.

"Hello boys," said Marlene while sitting down next to Sirius.

"Why hello," he replied pulling his arm around her shoulder, but to everyone's surprise she didn't remove his arm from around her, instead she moved closer and rested against him.

"So..." said Lily, sitting down on the arm of the chair James was seated in "Are you boys excited for Quidditch try outs?"

"Excited..." started James "Excited doesn't even begin to describe how awesome this year's going to be!"

They all sat in silence for a while after making small take for a good twenty minutes. Although Mary broke the silence "Remus, you look terrible... Are you feeling alright?"

After sharing a glance with the other Marauders Remus replied "actually I'm not, I think I'm going to head up to the Hospital Wing"

"Oh alright, why don't I come with you?" said Mary rising from her seat.

"NO!" yelled Remus "I mean not that I don't want you to come... it's just...umm..."

Realizing that Remus was at loss for words, Lily cut in "Mary...Marlene, Alice and I actually need to talk with you about something..." she lied.

"Oh alright...sure..." said Mary, re-taking her seat.

"Peter, why don't you go with Remus then?" asked Lily.

"Err...Yeah... That a good idea Lily" said Peter getting up and following Remus out of the common room.

Silence fell over the once group again, Sirius and James were having a silent conversation, trying to figure out what just happened and the girls were waiting for James or Sirius to say something.

"Well... I'm going to go up to the dorm, and finish some homework because I'm meeting up with Frank later..." said Alice

"Yeah, that's a good idea, I'll come with you" said Mary

They waited until they had heard the girls dormitory door close, then James spoke "Alright, now that they're gone, are you girls hungry?"

"Not particularly, no" replied Marlene for the both of them

"Well, I sure am...what do you have in mind Prongs?" said Sirius with a wink

"I was thinking about going for a mid-night snack, what say you Padfoot"

"Yeah, great idea!" he said, and then they both got up and started towards the door.

"Aren't you coming?" asked James, turning around and flashing his charming smile. After Lily and Marlene shared a glace, they both rose and followed the boys out of the common room. They had gone down four flights of stairs when Lily finally asked "James, where are you taking us?"

"On an adventure Lils... Just trust me" he said pulling her close.

"Oh I do," she responded with a wink.

Then James felt himself closing the space between them, Lily also became aware of this, but instead of moving away, she found herself leaning in as well.

"I would hate to interrupt" said Sirius, stepping between them "but were here..."

Feeling extremely embarrassed Lily stepped backwards, falling into a suite of armor, creating a loud noise. "Oh blood hell," said Sirius, "Are you trying to get us caught Lily?"

Then suddenly James burst out laughing, and was soon joined by Marlene and Sirius.

"Stop laughing," said Lily, "Stop it! It's not funny." Although Lily then realized how ridiculous this whole situation was, and found herself laughing along. They were rolling on the floor laughing until they heard a meow; they all froze, and turned their heads to see Ms. Norris the cat that belonged to the crazy caretaker, Mr. Flitch.

"This can't be good..." said Marlene

"What are we going to do, Flitch will be here in a matter of seconds" cried Lily

"Quickly Prongs," ordered Sirius "tickle the pear"

"What the hell does that mean Black!" yelled Marlene, although she was a bit surprised that he was being serious, for James had turned to the portrait that was behind them and tickled the pear in the fruit bowl. Then to her and Lily's surprise the portrait swung open and a passage way was revealed, but before they could question it, they were forced down the hidden staircase.

"What bloody hell" said Lily, "Where are we?"

"Well ladies, were in the secret passage that leads to the kitchens" said Sirius

"The kitchens... You found them! That's awesome!" cried Marlene.

"Well of course we found them...was it first year Prongsy?"

"Yeah, I think it might've even been our first week here..."replied James, as they continued down the stairs.

* * *

**Enjoy. :)**

**please review**

**- hulio  
**


	14. Chapter 14

"_The kitchens... You found them! That's awesome!" cried Marlene. _

"_Well of course we found them...was it first year Prongsy?" _

"_Yeah, I think it might've even been our first week here..."replied James, as they continued down the stairs._

"Hello ," said one of the house elves "what can I get for you"

"Libby, would you please get us four hot chocolates?" asked James

"Anything for Mr. Potter and Mr. Black" Libby replied walking away.

After they stood at the bottom of the stairs for a minute or so while the girls admired the huge kitchen that they never knew existed. Sirius suggested that they go and sit down; they agreed and took a seat down at one of the boy's favourite tables, Lily next to James and Marlene next to Sirius.

"Here's your hot chocolates" said Libby setting them on the table.

"Thank you so much Libby" said Sirius, and with a bow she turned and walked away.

The all sipped their drinks, _this hot chocolate is incredible _thought Lily_, it's perfectly mixed, not too sweet, it's amazing! _After a long silence for they were all enjoying their hot chocolate Lily finally put down her cup and asked the question that had been eating away at her every since they had mentioned the kitchens. "So, how exactly did you guys find the kitchens?"

With that Sirius jumped into the amazing story, which involved a few dungbombs and a huge chase from which they were running from Filtch. Occasionally James would jump in adding minor details here and there, although James wasn't as into the story compared to Sirius, he seemed a bit distracted to Lily, but she let it slide.

"That's an amazing story Sirius" replied Marlene, although there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah it was James' idea though, to go exploring... He has this need for adventure..." said Sirius

"I like that about him" Lily quickly covered her mouth with her hands, _oh shit! Did I just say that out loud! _She thought _...Please tell me James didn't hear that! _

Sirius and Marlene stared open mouthed at her; neither could believe Lily Evans had just complemented James. Although, fortunately for Lily, James hadn't heard her, he had been too busy wondering what would have been like if he had actually kissed Lily Evans...

"What?" he asked. Noticing that Marlene and Sirius were staring at him with their mouths open while Lily was trying her best not to make eye contact.

"Well...umm..." started Sirius

"Nothing... Never mind... forget about it" said Lily, blushing

"But..."

"Drop it Black" she said in a threatening tone.

"Alright... Calm down Evans"

After a few moments of silence James turned to Lily and whispered "I need to talk to you... in private"

Noticing that something was up, Marlene quickly budded in "hey...um...Sirius, what's that over there?" she said pointing at an object near the fire.

"Err, over where?" he asked, extremely confused.

"Just common," she said taking him away from Lily and James.

Sirius eyed James curiously and then followed Marlene. "Alright then, what is it?" asked Lily once Sirius and Marlene were out of ear shot.

"Well Lily... I wanted to talk to you about what happened back there... You know when we almost..."

"Oh yeah...that"

"What was that exactly...? Never mind... Don't answer that..."

"Oh...umm... alright"

"I don't know if you already know this but I-"he stopped himself and then continued in a whisper "I fancy you, Lils"

"Wait... What did you say...? I-I didn't hear you..."

But before he could rack up the courage to tell her again, Sirius had sat back down across from them, muttering under his breath about it being a mistake and that he shouldn't have done it. By the look on his face he could tell that Sirius was in no mood to talk about what just happened, he would ask him about it later.

"Where's Marlene?" asked Lily

"Um... she said something about being tired, and well, she left" said Sirius not daring to look into her eyes, for he was lying.

Lily yawned..."Well, she's got a point; I think I'm going to also head up to bed..."

James and Sirius then shared a quick glance "Wait Lily..." said Sirius

"We need to talk to you about something..." continued James

"Oh alright then..." Lily said, taking her seat again "What is it?"

"Lily... What happened in the common room?" started Sirius, not really knowing how to phrase his sentence.

"What he means is...ummm..." continued James, taking a long pause to put his words carefully.

Lily giggled, "Oh just stop, why don't I just tell you, what I know...Or what I think I know." Sirius and James looked at each other, both equally as scared that she had figured it out, after all Lily was the brightest witch of their generation. "Alright, tell us..." Sirius finally said.

"Well... You guys are very clever, I might add, but seriously common guys I'm not stupid... I know what Remus is and I'm pretty sure I know what you are too."

"Wait! You know! How do you know..?" asked Sirius

"Woah, wait... Before we say anything else... What are we Lils?" said James.

"Well... Remus is a werewolf that one was obvious I mean, he always looks extremely awful around the full moon and he sort of gave it away last year... although I'm not all that sure what you guys are, although I have a hunch."

"Is it really that obvious though.. Remus' thing?" asked Sirius,

"No...I mean it took me 6 years to figure it out..."

They both sighed in relief.

"Although... How did you guys do it... I mean it's really advanced magic?" questioned Lily

"Do what..?" responded James

She winked at them. "You guys are animagi aren't you because while in animal form you can't be infected with lycanthropy?"

_Oh shit! _Thought James _How the bloody hell did she figure all that out..._

Sirius took a deep breath then look at her right in the eyes. "Lily, you can't tell anyone..."

"You don't understand how much we need you to keep this secret..." said James

"I understand James, plus I'm guessing that if I did tell anyone, you would both probably murder me in my sleep..." said Lily

"Yes, we would have to" replied Sirius

"What? NO! Padfoot that's just extreme! We wouldn't hav-"cried James

"I was kidding Prongs...Calm down!" replied Sirius

Lily was doing everything in her power to not laugh..."Well no matter... I'm not going to tell anyone. You have my word"

"Lily... your word just isn't good enough...you don't understand..." started James

"STOP TELLING ME THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Remus is my friend too; I've known for years, he sort of told me anyway. REMUS TRUSTS ME! And it's obvious that you don't **Potter!**

"That's not what I meant Lily, I do trust you!"

"Whatever Potter...I'm going to bed! I won't tell a soul..." she said rising from the table "Remus trusts me; I just don't see why you can't..."

She then turned and walked up the stairs, once they heard the door close; James sighed "I'm shut an idiot..."

Sirius stood up "Common Prongs, we better go... The moon will be out soon"

James then rose and followed him out of the kitchens, before they left the stairwell, they slipped on the invisibility cloak and headed toward the shrieking shack, where Remus would transform and they would help tame him while he was in werewolf form.

* * *

Lily entered the common room and silently climbed the stairs for she thought everyone was sleeping although upon entering her dormitory she heard crying, noticing that Mary had fallen asleep and Alice still hadn't returned, Lily turned and walked over to Marlene's bed.

"Marlene..." she whispered, for Mary was asleep. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Lily," she replied through the curtain that surrounded her four poster bed. "I'm just tired."

"Oh come on Marlene, you don't actually expect me to believe that do you?" said Lily opening the curtains

"I was hoping you would actually..."

"Well I don't, so tell me what happened..."

"Alright, well, you gave me that look, to go away because you need to speak to James in private, so Sirius and I wandered over to the fire place. But I don't know what happened, something just came over the both of us and before I knew it we were...sort of..."

"Yes..." asked Lily, for the anticipation was too much at this point

"We were sort of... snogging"

"Wait... You Snogged Sirius Black!" she squeaked.

Marlene nodded "Well this is great" continued Lily "I knew you liked him and he obviously likes you..."

"No he doesn't... After we separated we were both kind of in shock, and he told me that it was a mistake, that he never should've done it"

"And that's when you left..?" asked Lily

"Yes, that's when I left... He regretted it... I can't believe I ever even thought that Black would want to date me... All he does is go around Snogging girls anyway... I was probably just another girl to him..."

"Marlene, I think...Well I think your wrong... Do you see the way he looks at you-"

But Marlene cut Lily off "Sort of like the way James looks at you..."

"No!" cried Lily "That's different!"

"Lily... Don't you dare try and convince me that you don't fancy him. I know you do..."

"Whatever..." replied Lily rolling her eyes, there was no hope in arguing with Marlene because she was right.

"By the way, what did he want to tell you..?"

"He never got the chance to tell me... But it doesn't matter anyway; I'm probably just girl he needs to snog so he can cross me off his list"

"Lily, you and I both know that's not true" replied Marlene

"And you and I both know that Sirius doesn't just like of you as just another Snogging buddy" she said back.

Before Marlene could respond however, the door to the dormitory opened and Alice walked into the room. Keeping quiet for she thought everyone was asleep, and she jumped out of her own skin when Lily spoke.

"Where have you been?" she asked

"With Frank all this time..?" said Marlene, mockingly.

"Shut up..." said Alice

"OMG! You have been with Frank!" cried Lily

"You have to tell us everything!" said Marlene

"Alright..." responded Alice, for there was no fighting the girls, she had been caught in the act "but tomorrow morning... I'm way too tired"

"Haha...Frank tired you out?" said Lily, giggling

Alice gave Lily a death stare then jumped into bed and was asleep in a matter of seconds. Although Lily and Marlene both knew it wasn't safe to continue their conversation, for Alice was one of the most gossipy of the four girls. Therefore Lily and Marlene followed Alice and changed into the pyjamas then went to bed.

* * *

**Hope you liked it :)**

**Please Review ! **

**- Hulio  
**


	15. Chapter 15

The following day continued as normal, the girls worked on homework and talked about boys. Although the boys went to bed unusually early, Mary, Alice and Marlene questioned it but Lily quickly changed the conversation, for she felt that these boys had enough on their plates, and didn't need others questioning them.

In the dorm, Remus and Peter feel asleep first, which was understandable. Although James and Sirius had stayed up, they were planning on coming up with a new prank but James seemed a bit distracted. It was obvious to Sirius, there was something on his mind and he would be in his own world until someone asked him.

"What's on your mind Prongs?"

"It's...umm... nothing, forget it..."

"Don't give me that! I know somethings up..." he had known James for too long, he knew exactly how to get him to tell him things "Don't treat me like an idiot Prongs!"

"What the bloody hell is your problem!" yelled James, who obviously had been holding this in all night.

Sirius was a little taken aback, he had not expected James to yell "Shh Prongsy, you might wake them up" he said pointing toward Remus and Peter who were both snoring loudly

"Oh you and I both know that they won't wake up to anything!" he said rolling his eyes.

Sirius was a little confused, "What did you mean by what's my problem?"

"What did I mean, well I donno... I've been dreaming about kissing this girl, this amazing, wonderful, funny, cute..."

"Prongs..." interrupted Sirius, for he knew that James could have gone on forever.

He shook out of the state he was in, embarrassed that Sirius had to stop him from going on about Lily, "Then when I finally get my chance to kiss her and you interrupt us..."

"Prongs, just calm down... You'll get another chance..."

"I highly doubt that...She's angry at me once again." he said under his breath "And what the hell happened with you and Marlene yesterday anyway, that you had to interrupt us again? I know you were lying to Lily when you told her she was tired and went to bad..."

"Err...Nothing..."

"Oh com-mon! Do you really expect me to believe that? Don't treat me like an idiot Padfoot" said James in a mocking ton.

"Fine Pronsy, I'll tell you...But you... you can't get mad..?"

"Alright Padfoot you have my word ...but what did you do?" he said in a protective tone for Marlene was the sister he never had.

"I sort of...well...snogged her" he whispered.

"YOU DID WHAT?" he yelled, but this wasn't just a normal yell, it seems as it was ten times louder than usual. And although nothing could wake Remus, James' yell sure woke him up. _oh yeah.. cause that's NOT getting mad... thought Sirius._

"What the bloody hell is going on?" asked Remus still half asleep

"Well Padfoot here decided that it be a nice idea to SNOG Marlene last night before we met up with you guys!" replied James who couldn't bear to look Sirius in the eye.

"Oh that's nice...WAIT WHAT?" he yelled, jumping out of bed. "HOW COULD YOU! SHE'S LIKE OUR SISTER!"

"Well, I just so happen to-"although Sirius didn't finish for Remus had drawn his wand and had sent a stinging jinx at Sirius. Angry, Sirius drew his wand and sent a hex in return, and then before James could do anything, Remus and Sirius were duelling... "Stop it," hollered James casting a protégo spell producing a shield between them. Both boys were out of breath and were glad to have stopped duelling.

"Padfoot, I swear, if you think that she's just another one of your snogging buddies, Remus and I will both be after you..." said James.

"Why do you two even care anyway, you've never cared who I've snogged before..." replied Sirius, catching his breath.

"Because we care about her!" cried Remus, still angry. Although this was true, James and Remus were both aware of how Marlene felt about Sirius. She had not told them, but they could see it in the way she looked at him and how she would laugh ten times more at his jokes. Plus they knew how hurt the girls were once Sirius was done with them, they couldn't let this happen to Marlene...

"You hurt her, we hurt you" threatened James_, I could kill Padfoot, if he hurts her...although, we could have let him explain I guess...  
_

And with that all three of them went to bed, without another word, although James thought he had heard Sirius mutter something under his breath, but he was too angry at him to ask him what he said. _I can't believe them...they won't even listen to me... Marlene's not just another girl...I happen to fancy her, thought Sirius. _

_

* * *

_

_Sirius was first to awake Sunday morning, he had finally given up at 4 o'clock on going back to sleep so he slipped out of bed, grabbed the Marauders Map and headed down to the common room, where, to his surprise he ran into Lily. _

"_What are you doing up this early?" he asked_

"_Couldn't sleep, you?" _

"_Nah, me neither" _

_They sat in silence until Sirius' stomach growled. _

"_Was that your stomach?" asked Lily_

"_Yeah... It was actually, I think I'm going to go down to the kitchens, want to tag along?" he asked_

"_Yeah sure..." _

_They then headed down to the kitchens, where Sirius ordered some eggs and Lily asked for a hot chocolate. Silence fell over them once again, for they had never really been alone together. _

"_Sirius... Can I ask you something...?" said Lily_

"_Um...sure"_

"_Do you fancy Marlene?" _

_He sighed, he had known this was coming, he was just praying it wouldn't. "So, she told you didn't she...?" Lily nodded "Well. Alright, I'll answer that..but Evan's, but Prongs is mine..." he said winking at her _

"_Oh shut it black..." said Lily, taking a sip of her drink _

_He stared at her for what seemed like a long minute, until she finally asked why he was staring at her. _

"_I just can't get over it! YOU FANCY JAMES!" _

"_Shut it black! I don't fancy James!" _

"_LILY FANCIES JAMES, LILY FANCIES JAMES!"_

_"NO I DON'T!"_

_"Tell answer this Lily... If you don't like Prongs, why are you blushing..?"_

_"I-I am not!"_

_He beamed "Oh yes you are..."  
_

"_Well...YOU FANCY MARLENE!" Lily yelled in reply._

"_What..? I do not" said Sirius, blushing._

"_Awe... You definitely do!"_

"_No! I don't!" he said, blushing even more. _

"_SIRIUS FANCIES MARLENE! SIRIUS FANCIES MARLENE!" cried Lily_

_Silence fell over both of them once again and then suddenly, they both burst out laughing, they were both so alike in many different ways, and thus was born a great friendship..._

_

* * *

_

James awoke early, to watch the sunrise, although, when he woke, Sirius was not in his bed. James was curious to where he would be at 5:30am, so James went to take out the Marauders Map, but realized it wasn't there..._So Padfoot didn't want to be found...he thought...Challenge accepted!_ James then quickly changed and headed down to find Sirius. After looking in all the usual places, he finally found Sirius down in the kitchens though upon descending the stairs he noticed something odd, Sirius wasn't alone.

"Hey Padfoot..." said James

"Hey Prongs" he replied

"Hey James" said Lily, to his surprise...

_What were Lily and Sirius doing down in the kitchens at 5:30am, thought James_..."I'm not interrupting anything...am I?" He asked

"Oh Merlin's beard no! We were just chatting," said Lily, smiling.

"Yeah, sit down Prongsy" continued Sirius, also smiling.

James took the empty seat next to Lily. "How long have you two been down here?"

"Well I went down stairs to the common room at 4:30am, and found Lily...we talked up there for a while, then came down here around 4:45am"

"What have you guys been doing down here anyway?" asked James

"I already told you, we were talking." replied Lily "But I better be going actually, I would want Mary, Alice or Marlene to wake up and panic seeing as I'm not there"

"Yeah, that sounds like something they would do" said Sirius casually.

"Alright, well it was nice taking too you Sirius, good luck today at Quidditch" she said glancing at James, and then Lily started up the stair case. Once they heard the door close however, Sirius spoke "Now Prongs, don't go getting mad at me now, all we did was talk, I promise"

"Padfoot, You have my word, I wont get mad..."

"Oh yeah, sure, just like last night right?" replied Sirius rolling his eyes "I'm going back up to the common room, I want to get out on the pitch as soon as possible, to practice."

"That's a good plan," said James

Sirius then got up and walked back to the common room, leaving James confused. _What just happened..? Lily and Padfoot acting like friends, and now he suddenly mad at me...he thought._ It was then when it hit James that last night when he had promised Sirius he wouldn't "Oh shit!"James then ran as fast as he could in attempt to catch up with Sirius.

He finally caught up with him "Padfoot!"

"What Prongs!" he asked

"I'm so sorry, I-I didn't mean to yell at you yesterday, i shouldn't have done it..."

"That's all I wanted to hear, thanks Prongs"

They shared a laugh, "So you fancy her...?" asked James

"WHAT...?"

James laughed, "Oh common, I your best mate... I know these things..."

Sirius shrugged "Well I blew my chances..."

* * *

**I kinda just left you hanging...**

**Please Review, **

**next chapter will probably be up tomorrow... but no promises ;)**

**Hope you enjoyed it **

**- Hulio  
**


	16. Chapter 16

Sirius and James had been practicing for hours before the actual tryouts, it had been around two weeks since they last practiced, so they were a little rusty. Sirius and James were just about to put the new Quidditch play in action when James became instantly distracted. Trying to get his attention Sirius lightly through the Quaffle at his best mate.

Sirius burst out laughing, James had almost fallen off his broom"What the bloody hell did you do that for?"

Regaining control Sirius said "You were distracted..."

"Oh yeah...?" asked James

Sirius rolled his eyes "What were you distracted by anyway...?"

"Um... Padfoot... Would you happen to know why Lily and Mary are walking down to the pitch with everyone else trying out...?"

"I have no idea Prongs... Common lets dismount" they raced to the ground and of course James won, Sirius was a great flier but James just happened to be better.

The group that was going to try out was in the changing rooms, but Lily and Mary continued and went right onto the pitch.

Sirius smirked "Not trying out Lily?"

"Oh ha-ha... Very funny..." Lily replied rolling her eyes

"But really, to what do we owe this pleasure?"

Mary butted in "Being the great friends we are, we came to support Marlene..."

James couldn't help but look happy "That's fantastic!"

People started to emerge from the changing rooms,

James turned to Sirius "We better get started,"

"Good idea" he said as they turned and walked away.

"Wait Sirius!" yelled Lily "I need to ask you something..."

James couldn't help be feel jealous of his best mate when he turned around to go and speak to the girl of his dreams.

"What is it Lily?" asked Sirius

"Promise me you won't tell James what I told you this morning..."

"Only if you promise not to tell Marlene..."

"You have yourself a deal..." she said turning away.

It was then when James decided that everyone was going to try out for the team. No longer was Padfoot already on the team, he was to try out like everyone else. James then took a look around to see what he was dealing with, there were 6 chasers trying out, one of which was Remus, 4 beaters, two of which were Sirius and Marlene, 4 seekers and 2 keepers. This was good, he had just enough for two teams, and well for the seekers he was just going to let all four play and whoever catches the snitch first, makes the team.

"Alright" said James "The Gryffindor team is starting off anew, so everyone is trying out today...please remember that just because you were on the team last year, doesn't mean you'll make the team again this year. Now, I want people trying out to be beaters over there" he said pointing to the left side of the field "Chasers, over there" to which he pointed toward the middle of the field "Seekers and Keepers over there" he concluded pointing to the right side of the field. James then waited until everyone was in their groups and then paired them off into two teams before explaining what was going to happen. "So, here's how this is going to work, we're going to play an ordinary game, all rules apply. I will be on my broom, observing you all, depending on how you play, you might get to play the full game, or I might ask you to sit down. Oh, and seekers, all four of you will be competing for the snitch, whoever catches the snitch pretty much makes the team. Alright so everyone on the count of three you kick off and the game begins, one...two...three"

All in all the tryout was going pretty well. James had already asked two of the chasers to sit down; they were second years and simply not good enough yet. He had also already found his seeker, a fourth year names Abby who managed to catch the snitch ten minutes into the game.

Sirius could tell something was on James' mind, so he flew over to where he was hovering. "Prongs what's up?"

"Padfoot, you should be paying attention to the game, you're not guaranteed a spot"

"Oh come on! You're being ridiculous..."

"No! What's ridiculous is that you think it's okay to flirt with another mans girl! I saw you with Lily... You know how I feel about her Padfoot, I can't believe you!"

Sirius couldn't help but laugh "Prongs... I would never... were friends, nothing more..."

"Don't give me that!"

"Prongs, I swear... Nothing is going to happen between us, she's like my sister" Sirius could tell that James was still jealous, he sighed "Prongs... Marauders honor" he said putting his hand over his heart.

With that James howled with laughter "Bloody hell mate! You're ridiculous... but I like that Marauders honor thing... I'll take your word, now get back to playing! Like I just said, you're not guaranteed a spot"

"Prongs you and I both know you only said that because you were jealous of Lily talking to me and not you" Sirius then flew off and continued playing, within seconds he had swung at a bludger and it hit the opposite team thus making him drop the Quaffle right into the hands of one of his teammates.

Sirius winked in James' direction to which James replied with an obvious eye roll. _There was no doubt... Sirius would definitely be on the team, he thought. _

After another half an hour, he decided to call of the game. James had finished picking the team twenty minutes ago but the game was too intense to stop.

Once everyone had landed James spoke "Alright, well that was a very good tryout. The team will be posted tomorrow morning in the Gryffindor common room, thanks to everyone who tried out. Have a good day" then he dismissed them and went to the changing room.

"Oh common Prongsy" wined Sirius.

"Yea Prongs, tell us!" said Remus.

"For the last time, you'll have to just wait until tomorrow morning when the team is posted" said James, this was getting annoying, they had been asking him about the team ever since he had stepped off his broom.

"Oh for the sake of Merlin just tell us!" cried Sirius.

"Fine," replied James "Moony's on the team, but Padfoot you didn't make it..."

Sirius stopped dead in his tracks, "y-you're kidding r-right Prongsy?" to which James just replied with laughter as he left the changing room and headed back up to the castle.

The rest of the day was uneventful, the Marauders did what they always do, eat, laugh and plan a prank. Then around 10 o'clock the girls walked into the common room, they didn't stop to talk to any of the boys, although Marlene gave them a quick smile and then all four of them walked up to their dorm.

"Common Alice!" cried Lily, once they had all settled into the room

"Tell us why you were so late coming in on Friday night..." said Marlene

"NO!" she yelled "It's none of your business what happened with Frank and me"

Not wanting to start a fight, the girls decided to drop the topic. They all then took out their homework although before anyone could even start another topic was brought up.

"So Lily... What's going on with you and James lately?" asked Alice

"Oh...Um...Nothing" she replied, blushing a little.

Marlene was trying to contain her laughter, Lily was a terrible liar. "Common Lily, just tell them..." she said "You and I both know they saw right through that lie."

Marlene was right, thought Lily. Mary and Alice didn't believe her at all, because to them nothing always meant something.

"She's right Lils" said Mary "You know what I always say, nothing always-"

"Means something... Yeah I know" interrupted Lily; she exhaled loudly then finally spoke again "Fine... I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone"

"You have our word." They all said in unison.

"Well, I don't know how he feels... but I... Well you see... I fancy him" she said in a whisper.

"Oh my god!" cried Mary

"I KNEW IT!" shouted Alice.

Lily blushed once more, and prayed that they wouldn't start chanting like Sirius did. The girls stayed in their dorm the entire night and talked about the Marauders, by the end of the night, they had discovered that Mary liked Remus, which didn't come as a surprise to any of the girls. Alice had also gotten Marlene to hint that she liked Sirius, although Alice was sneaky like that, she could weasel anything out of anyone. The girls then went to bed, feeling a little embarrassed for their deepest secrets had been revelled, but happy none the less.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed reading, **

**Please Review.. :) **

**-Hulio  
**


	17. Chapter 17

The next few weeks continued normally, there were very few conversations between the Marauders and the girls however when they did speak it either ended in a fight or in laughter. There were also very few pranks, although they did pull a rather mean one on the Slytherins that involved a rather large bucket of hippogriff poop, the Marauders got a three weeks detention for that one. Christmas break was quickly approaching, and everyone was excited to be going home for the holidays.

The Marauders sat in the common room, talking excitedly about the break

"Are you guys going home for the break?" asked Sirius, looking sad

"No, I'm not actually..." said James, and he couldn't help but notice that Sirius looked much happier

"I'm not either... My parents are going on their honeymoon, so I'm staying" replied Remus

"I'm going..." whispered Peter "My mom wants me home"

"That's alright Peter," started James

"Oh I'm excited to be going actually. I miss her lots"

"Oh, even better then"

"I'd better go pack actually, I haven't started and the train leaves tomorrow" then Peter got up and headed for the boys dormitory.

"Alice are you sure you have to go?" asked Lily as they entered the common room.

Alice laughed "Common guys, you'll survive without me..."

"It's not us you should be worried about, Frank's probably going to go absolutely mental without you here" stated Marlene

Alice rolled her eyes, and started towards their dorm "Oh shut it. I'm going to pack."

Marlene was first to notice the three Marauders sitting by the fire "Well well, look who the cat dragged in..." she said "Not going home for the holidays?"

"Nope, we're staying put." Replied Remus

"Darn, I was hoping for a Marauder's free break" said Lily, flashing them a smile

The girls laughed, "Oh ha-ha lily, you're so funny" said Sirius

She winked "Thanks Black."

"I wasn't being serious, you know?"

"Wow _Sirius_, I didn't know that was possible..."

He smiled at her "Well played Evans."

"So James," said Marlene butting in "When's the next Quidditch practice?"

"Well, since we're all staying for the break, I'm thinking we can have a practice sometime soon" he replied

"Who else made the team..? I didn't check the list..."

"Then how do you know you made the team...?" James asked in a mocking voice.

She laughed "Because you'd be stupid not too put me on it..."

Remus and Sirius joined her in laughing, "S-she's g-got a p-pont Prongsy" Sirius managed to say.

James sighed, "Well you could just go look at the list posted over there."

She rolled her eyes and got up to look at the list, it read:

_Gryffindor Quidditch Team_

_Chasers: Remus Lupin, Kate McConnell and James Potter_

_Beaters: Marlene McKinnon and Sirius Black_

_Seeker: Abby Vance _

_Keeper: Jackson Bones _

She looked up from the list "Alright sweet, you've picked a good team this year."

"Yes, yes I have"

Lily rolled her eyes "Oh James, stop being so modest" , _he couldn't be any more arrogant, she thought._

"Now Prongs, I know she's not serious" said Sirius

Everyone howled with laughter and Lily managed to say "Thanks Black,"

"My pleasure maim" replied Sirius, tipping an invisible hat to her.

"Well then, on that lovely note..." said Marlene "I'm off to bed"

"Good idea" said Lily yawning.

Then girls then got up and started up the stairs. Once they had turned the corner Remus spoke "Um... I'll be right back guys..." and he ran up the stairs after them

"Hey Mary..." he said catching up with them right as they were about to walk into the dorm. "Could I ask you something?"

"Um...We'll meet you inside okay Mary...?" said Lily opening the door and walking in, followed quickly by Marlene.

Once the door closed, she turned to Remus "Yeah...?"

"Well... since you're staying for the break... I was wondering if you would...umm... you know they hold a winter ball, for everyone who stays on Christmas Eve... and well... I was wondering... If you want to..." he stopped, took a deep breath and then continued "Will you go to the ball with me?"

"I'd love to" responded Mary without any hesitation, and then she kissed him on the check and went into the girl's dorm.

Remus descended the stairs absolutely beaming, the only thought running through his mind _SHE SAID YES! SHE SAID YES!_

* * *

"did-he-ask-you?" cried Lily the second she closed the door.

"Yes..." she replied

"And you said yes right?" asked Alice

"Of course she did Alice, she fancies him!" interrupted Marlene.

"Oh shut up won't you!" said Mary blushing. "Plus aren't you going to go with Sirius!"

Marlene rolled her eyes "Umm... let me think about that... he snogs me, then says he regrets it, so obviously I was just another girl to him, so I highly doubt that we will be going together!" she then quickly closed the curtains surrounding her bed so she could hid the tears in her eyes.

"Oh common Marlene, you know that's not true" said Lily through the curtains

"Whatever, I'm going to bed" yelled Marlene.

The room feel silent, not because they went to bed, but neither of the girls wanted to anger Marlene any further for she became a bit scary when she was angry.

* * *

"What was that all about?" asked Sirius as Remus rejoined them

"Nothing..." he replied still smiling

James couldn't help but notice the expression on his face "Really Moony, because the way you're smiling, it doesn't seem like it's nothing."

"Shut up Prongs." Said Remus in a threatening tone

"Wait a second...You didn't...?"

Realizing that James had figured it out Remus said "Shut it Prongs!"

"Wait what did he do?" asked Sirius, completely lost.

"No Prongs don't!" cried Remus, but unfortunately it was too late,

"Moony here, just asked little Miss Mary to the winter ball" said James, feeling so big and mighty since he was the one to figure it out

Sirius wasn't surprised by this at all "Did he now... Well Prongs, you know what we have to do..."

They shared a glance and James shouted "Tell everyone... Let's go!"

"Oh sweet Merlin...please don't" Remus pleaded

"Too late, the plan is already in motion" said James

"Ha, sorry Moony" yelled Sirius as they ran out through the portrait hole.

* * *

**I thought this was a fun chapter. **

**I hope you enjoyed reading it. :) **

**PLease Review... (you know you want too)**

**- Hulio  
**


	18. Chapter 18

The next day they said goodbye to Alice and Peter, after promising to write Alice about every exciting event. The days of the break went by normally; there were a few Quidditch practices here and there but nothing too interesting. The small population that stayed at Hogwarts over the break was extremely excited for the ball, it was all they could talk about and when the night finally came the whole castle was jumping with excitement.

* * *

In the girls dorm, it was now 7:30

_Great _Lily thought _were going to be late for there is no way we'll be able to get down to the Great Hall for 8. _"Common girls! You don't want to be late for Remus now...? Right Mary"

"Oh shut it Lily, I already told him that I'd be meeting him down in the common room at 7:45"

"Well alright then... Marlene," said Lily pounding on the bathroom door "Let's go!"

"Umm...I changed my mind, I'm not going..." shouted Marlene through the door.

Mary gasped "Oh yes you are!"

"Oh no I'm not!"

Lily sighed "Marlene... Don't make me blast the door open!"

"You wouldn't..."

"Oh but Marlene, that's where you're wrong... I would."

They heard a groan and the bathroom door opened, to revel a messy haired Marlene sitting on the counter.

Lily fixed Marlene's hair and pulled her to her feet..."Trust me! Black won't be able to resist you! You look absolutely amazing..."

She blushed. "Oh shut up!"

The girls finally left their dorm at 7:40, and headed down the stair toward the common room, where Mary told Remus she would meet him. Lily and Marlene were going stag, they somehow convinced themselves that they could go and have fun without boys.

* * *

"Why does it take so bloody long for girls to get ready!" cried Sirius, taping his foot impatiently.

Remus rolled his eyes "I still can't believe you two are going stag..."

Sirius shrugged "Whatever Moony, we didn't want to be held back..."

"Ha! Or is it because neither of you could go with the girl you really want to go with..."

James was on his feet "Shut it Moony!"

"Oh, caught a nerve did I?" said Remus as he dissolved into laughter. Although he stopped instantaneously for he had caught a glance of Mary who was standing there look amused at their situation.

"Wow," said Remus "You look amazing Mar... S-Shall we g-go down?"

"I'd love to Remmy"

He offered her his arm and she took it, they then proceeded to walk down to the Great Hall.

"Well...By the looks of it, we were just ditched." Said James

"Yeah _Remmy_ will pay for that" replied Sirius, they both broke down into a fit of laughter and didn't happen to notice Lily and Marlene sneak by them for they were too busy failing to gain control of themselves. When they finally manage to, a full fifteen minutes later, they decided to head down to the Great Hall. Upon entering, they were surrounded by girls that obviously wanted to dance with the schools biggest bachelors.

* * *

After dancing for what seemed like hours, Lily and Marlene finally decided to sit down. They were soon joined by Mary and Remus who seemed to be having the time of their lives,

"So how's your night?" Lily asked

They shared a glance and then said in unison "Amazing"

Remus was looking around the Great Hall "Have either of you seen James or Sirius...?"

"Isn't that them over there, standing by the punch?"

"Oh shit! I'll be right back" he quickly kissed Mary on the check and rushed toward them.

Mary was blushing "I'll tell you about it later"

"No, common... tell us now..." said Lily practically on her knees.

"Alright fine..." and with that Mary jumped into the story of how her night was going...

Sirius was on look out "Okay Prongs...No one's looking... Now!"

On his cue James emptied a bottle of fire whiskey into the punch bowl.

"Oh Merlin!" cried Remus "Please tell me you didn't just do what I think you just did..."

A smile grew on James' face "That depends, what do you think we did?"

"I think you just dumped a bottle of fire whiskey into the punch bowl!" he whisper-shouted

Sirius shrugged "Maybe we did... Maybe we didn't..."

"You guys are awful!"

"Maybe just a little Remmy," replied James winking at him

"Oh shut up! Just because I have a date and you don't..."

Sirius chuckled, "I could get any girl in this room to dance with me..."

"Mhhm... Any girl but Marlene!" he replied

"OH YEAH! YOU THINK SO!" yelled Sirius

"I know so." Sirius then sat down in a chair, feeling defeated, for Remus was right, the only girl he wanted to be with didn't want to be with him.

"Now you!" said Remus, determined to make James feel the same way as Sirius.

"Hold on Remmy."

"Don't call me that" threatened Remus

James smile faded from his face. "Why... What are you going to do about it?"

"You really want to know what I'm going to do..."

"Please Moony, do it."

"Alright, but remember you asked for it" he replied turning around and he walked into the crowd.

"Ha! I knew he wouldn't do anything..." James then turned to Sirius, who was still sulking in the chair "Oh common, Padfoot... Cheer up!"

Sirius stood up and started to walk away "You know what? I'm gonna do it!"

"Wait do what...?" hollered James after Sirius, although before he could run after him he was enveloped in a hug.

"Awe Jamesieeepoooo!" the person cried.

_Oh shit! _He thought _Please let this be someone else... what am I thinking no one else calls me Jamesiepoo._

He managed to get out of the hug "Hey Olivia..."

"James! Remus just told me that you miss me! And you want to get back together!" she replied hugging him once more.

_He missed her and wanted to get back together...? WHAT? I never said that... Moony's going to pay_. "Yeah... Hold that thought... I'll be right back, you stay here"

Mary, Marlene and Lily were all talking excitedly about a newly sprung love between Remus and Mary when Sirius walked up to them.

"Um... Sorry to interrupt... but I was wondering if you wanted to dance Marlene, with me that is..." he had never felt so nervous in his life_ What is wrong with me! _He thought.

Marlene beamed "Yeah...sure"

"Wait... what?"

"I said yes Black... Now common, before I change my mind" she said grabbing him and pulling him towards the dance floor.

"I knew he wouldn't be able to resist her" said Lily as she watched them walk away, both girls giggled

Just then Remus rejoined them, throwing his arm around Mary once he sat down. They giggled for a bit longer, and then Mary excused herself to go to the washroom.

"Why were you two giggling..? Wait where Marlene..?"

"She's dancing... with Sirius" said Lily

Remus felt accomplished, his plan had worked, he had gotten Sirius to prove him wrong and to ask Marlene to dance with him. Although before Remus could express his most recent accomplishment their conversation was rudely interrupted by none other than James "Moony..." he growled

"Now Prongs, remember... You asked for it?" he responded grinning

James drew his wand "Moony you went too far with this one... Prepare to pay"

"Hold on!" cried Lily, putting herself between James and Remus "What the hell is going on..?"

James lowered his wand "Moony here decided that it would be funny to tell my old obsessive girlfriend that I wanted to get back together with her..."

Lily did her best to contain her laughter, for she remembered Olivia clearly, and she was indeed seriously annoying and obsessed with James. Although Lily burst out laughing when she heard a distant cry "JJAAAAMMMESSIEEPOO!"

"Let dance," she said, grabbing hold on him. He groaned and led her to the dance floor.

"That was brilliant" said Lily in between laughs.

"Thank you Lily..." Remus replied beaming.

_So Moony thinks this is funny, well I'm sure he'll find this hilarious then._ James then took Olivia over to the side of the dance floor, where they wouldn't be interrupted but in a place where Remus could see him perfectly.

"I've missed you so much..." he whispered in her ear.

She giggled, and then, just as James predicted, she started to snog him, and he of course, didn't object.

* * *

**Haha! :) **

**You should be excited for the next chapter, (I sure would be) **

**Hope you enjoyed reading. **

**PLease Review! :) **

**- Hulio  
**


	19. Chapter 19

Remus' smile suddenly faded and Lily stopped laughing at once. She couldn't believe what she was seeing... A few moments ago James Potter was extremely angry that Remus had set him back up with Olivia, but now he seemed to be rather enjoying it. She looked away... _I can't believe him...I thought he liked me..._ Lily was now trying to hold back tears. _I can't believe I liked him... I can't believe I thought that he changed... I can't believe this... I've lost my chance... He's moved on. _A tear rolled down her cheek, and even though she had tried so hard to hide this from Remus, he still noticed "Oh Lily... I'm so sorry, I mean... I just thought he would be mad... and not actually do anything with her..."

"Don't be..." she said wiping the tears from her eyes "It was funny Remus joke... really funny"

"Lily... You have to believe me when I say this..."

"No... Don't say it... I know what you're going to say... And obviously he doesn't like me anymore..." Lily didn't give him time to respond however, for she fled from the Great Hall and ran away. She wasn't paying any attention to where she was going; she just kept running tears running down her cheeks, although she was caught by surprise when she fell backward. "I'm so sorry... I wasn't looking where I was going"

"Obviously not." Said the voice,

Lily recognized this voice immediately, perfect, of all people she had to run into Mulciber and Snape. Although this time she was ready, Lily was on her feet in a matter of seconds and had drawn her wand.

"Had a bad night?" asked Snape an evil grin growing on his face. "Well I'm afraid it's about to get even worse"

* * *

It had been an incredible battle, Lily had the upper hand even though she was out numbered, nearing the end to the duel, she had stunned Mulciber and it was now just her and Snape.

"Lily stop!" he cried "This is stupid..."

She nodded and lowered her wand, of all things she just wanted to be friends with Severus again, "Sev! Forgive me..." she asked.

"No Lils, forgive me..." and then he raised his wand "Sectumsempra"

Lily couldn't remember anything more from that point on, for all of a sudden a ton of pain took over her body; it felt as if she was being slashed by an invisible sword. Although in a way Lily Evans was lucky, for Snape had only just invented this spell, therefore it was still very weak.

* * *

"Marlene!" cried Remus running up to her "Sorry to interrupt, but Lily... Well she saw that..." to which he pointed at James still snogging Olivia.

"Say no more... I'm on it" and with that she ran out of the Great Hall, running into Mary on her way out. "We need to go find Lily! I'll explain later!" The two girls split up, Mary ran for the library Marlene ran toward the common room.

"What the hell is Prongs doing!" Sirius started toward him.

Remus running after him "Oh bloody hell"

"Prongs..." he said forcing the two apart.

Olivia looked furious "What the hell do you think you doing Black?"

Remus turned to her "Give us a moment..."

Once she was out of ear shot Sirius turned back to James "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

"Padfoot you know what I was doing..."

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT JAMES!" hollered Remus, unable to contain himself.

"What? Why? You were the one who set us up!"

Although before Remus or Sirius could say anything more, they're conversation was interrupted by a panting Mary and Marlene, James took this moment to sneak away and go continue snogging his ex-girlfriend.

"We looked everywhere!" said Marlene

"But we couldn't find her..." continued Mary

"I'm sure she's fine...-"

"No Padfoot, You do remember what happened last time..." interrupted Remus

"Oh shit!" replied Sirius, then he ran from the room.

"Where's he going?" asked Marlene

"Forget about him, common let's split up and find her." Replied Remus, although, he knew exactly where Sirius had gone, he went to go look at a certain map of theirs...

* * *

Sirius reached the dorm and pulled out the map. He then spotted her, _she appeared to be alone... that could be a good sign, _he though. Although at that very second another thought struck him... _that could also be a very bad sign..._He then ran from the dorm as fast as he could, and two minutes later he found himself in the corridor attempting to carry Lily up to the Hospital Wing. There was blood everywhere, but he just could go any faster, she was too heavy, then he had a stroke of luck. As he was running past a wall a door appeared... _A passage way, maybe it leads to the Hospital Wing. _He ran through the doors, and suddenly found himself standing in the place he needed to be.

"Madame Pomfrey!" he shouted, she came running from her office

"My Gosh Mr. Black! What on earth..." she stopped dead, for she had noticed that he was covered in blood.

"It's Lily... She's been attacked."

"Quickly put her down on one of the beds," she yelled, running into her office

He obeyed then she quickly returned holding a little bottle labeled Dittany, she poured it on Lily's wounds and within the instant they healed. After all Lily's wounds had been healed, Madame Pomfrey finally spoke "Mr. Black, do you have any idea...?"

"I don't, I was walking down a corridor, and saw her... I don't know what happened or who did it."

"Alright well... I'm going to speak with the Headmaster... you should go back to your party..."

"I-I t-think I'll go a-and t-tell t-the others I f-found h-her" he said fighting back tears.

He walked back toward to Great Hall and too his luck he ran into Marlene just as he was about to enter...

Marlene's eyes widened "Black! What happened...? Is that b-blood?"

He nodded and fell to his knees, "It's L-Lily..."

"Padfoot, are you alright!" cried Remus running up to him.

He shook his head, he was terrified. "T-there w-was so m-much b-blood..."

Mary had joined them by this point and Remus had turned to her and Marlene. "You guys go to the Hospital Wing right now, knowing Padfoot... she'll be there..."

Neither girls questioned it; they both ran off in the direction of the Hospital Wing. Remus then turned to Sirius, who was still in shock "Common Padfoot, let's go..." and Remus helped him up and they followed the girls to the Hospital Wing. _This was a special moment in their relationship_ thought Remus, Padfoot had been there for him 12 days every year. Now it was his turn to be there for him. He attempted to calm Sirius down but he kept going on about blood and the corridor, he also mentioned a secret passageway that led him straight to the hospital wing. Remus paid close attention to what his mate was saying, but never stopped trying to calm him down. They entered the Hospital Wing around 5 minutes after Mary and Marlene; they were sitting by Lily's bed, worried expression plastered on their faces. Remus sat Sirius down, then Mary and Marlene looked up.

Mary approached Remus and whispered "What's wrong with Sirius?"

"I think he's just in shock, I mean, Lily and him have been really close lately... they are so alike and they've recently become extremely close friends."

She looked at him with extreme sadness "Poor Sirius"

Well they were talking Marlene had moved next to him, she was now holding his hand and whispering reassuring words.

"T-there w-was s-so m-much b-b-blood"

"It's alright Sirius... You saved her, she's safe now"

A thought struck Remus "Oh shit! I'll be right back" with that he ran from the Hospital Wing.

Marlene took her eyes off Sirius and turned to Mary "What was that all about?"

Mary shrugged and sat down "I have no idea."

A few minutes of silence was broken by Marlene "Where's Madame Pomfrey anyway?"

"I'm not quite sure actually..."

"Dumbledore" murmured Sirius.

Marlene gave Mary a worried look, Sirius was starting to scare her, she had never seen him like this. "Oh well. That explains things a little..."

Remus had run full speed down to the corridor where Sirius told him where he found Lily. _Oh sweet Merlin! _He though, _that's a lot of blood, Sirius was right. _He quickly cleaned it up and returned to the Hospital Wing. Although on his way back, he ran into James, someone whom he would've rather not spoken to.

"Heyo Moooony!" cried James

"Um... Prongs... Are you drunk?"

"Ha- Just a little..."

"Prongs, I can't talk to you, go make out with your girlfriend or something..."

"Good idea Moony!" he said and turned back into the Great Hall

Remus then continued on his way back to the Hospital Wing, _What an idiot. _Upon entering, he noticed how sad it felt in the room.

As he pulled up a chair, Mary asked him "Where did you go...?"

"I went to clean up..."

"Clean up what?" asked Marlene

He leaned in, not wanting to be heard by Sirius, "the blood" he whispered. Although apparently he wasn't quiet enough for Sirius shivered. "Well it's good that someone cleaned it up, otherwise people might have freaked out a little" said Sirius, trying to act normal and like nothing was wrong.

They were silent for a while. Although the silence was broken when the doors opened, and in came Madame Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore. "Hello students!"

There was a murmur but no one really replied, although Remus did walk over to them and spoke in a whisper "Umm... Madame Pomfrey, Sirius well... He's gone into some sort of shock. The only thing that's come out of his mouth in the past hour was a description of how much blood there was..."

"Yes well... I was about to give him a calming drought but it slipped my mind... I'll go get it right now though..." and then she disappeared into her office.

"Come here Mr. Lupin, I need to speak to all of you..." said Dumbledore as he walked over to the other students. "So...I now need to hear your story..." he said addressing the four students that sat in front of him.

Remus started "Well... Headmaster... I was talking to Lily and well she got really upset and ran out of the Great Hall crying, then I went and told Marlene what had happened"

"Then I ran to find Lily, but ran into Mary on the way, we then decided to split up and search the usual places she would be, I looked in the common room and everywhere around there, and Mary looked in the library... Though neither of us found her" continued Marlene

Mary then took over "So we ran back into the hall, where Sirius and Remus were sort of yelling at James, and then we told them that we couldn't find her. Then Sirius –"

"Then Sirius and I offered to help find her... we then separated and Sirius...well... he found her, and brought her up here, saving her life." Interrupted Remus

A tiny smile formed on Sirius' face. Then Dumbledore spoke "And then what happened?" there was no response for no one actually knew what happened after that.

"I found her, and well... I picked her up and carried tried to carry her all the way up to the Hospital Wing but I just couldn't, that's when a door appeared and well I went through it hoping it to be a passage to bring me here. Although when I walked through it, I was in the Hospital Wing, that's when Madame Pomfrey treated her. Then she told me to go and find the others... So I did, but once I had found them... It was just all too much... You don't understand how much blood there was... It was so frightening..." said Sirius, putting his head in his hands.

Marlene sensed that Sirius didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she continued "Well I saw Sirius first, and noticed that he was covered in blood, then Remus saw us and then Mary. Remus told Mary and me to run up to the Hospital Wing, and we did..."

"Then I helped Sirius up here, and then I returned to the place where Sirius had told me he found Lily and I cleaned up the blood..." Remus was fighting back tears at this point, Sirius wasn't kidding about the blood there was so much of it.

"Thank you" said Dumbledore "It seems to me that Mr. Black has discovered the where about's of the room of requirement. It would be greatly appreciate if none of you went looking for the person who did this to Ms. Evans, they will be caught by the teachers and then they will be expelled"

They sighed in relief, "Headmaster, what exactly is the room of requirement?" asked Remus

"Well, Mr. Lupin, the room of requirement is a room is secret room hiden inside Hogwarts that only appeares when a person is in great need of it. The room then transforms itself into whatever the witch or wizard needs it to be at that time. Since Mr. Black was greatly in need of the Hospital Wing, the room transformed it self into a passageway that brought him straight here."

Thus ended their conversation, Headmaster Dumbledore talked with Madame Pomfrey and then he left, given the four of them a reassuring smile. A few minutes later, Madame Pomfrey came of her office holding four cups, "Here, drink this, and then you all should head on off to bed, you've had a rough night" She made sure that the cups were completely empty and then shooed them from the Hospital Wing. They walked up to the Gryffindor common room, Remus still supporting Sirius. All exhausted, they said goodnight and then parted ways.

"Well...I know one thing's for sure" said Sirius settling into bed.

"Yeah... and what's that?" asked Remus

"Tomorrow morning, I am going to murder Prongs!"

"Count me in on that too"

The boys fell asleep the moment their heads hit their pillows, though Remus and Sirius didn't sleep well at all, they were both woken up various times because of nightmares. At three am Sirius gave up on sleep, there was no use in replaying that horrible dream. Sirius got up and decided to head to the kitchens, _maybe for some hot chocolate _he thought, although before he opened the door Remus spoke "Couldn't sleep huh Padfoot?"

"No chance Moony..." he responded sighing "Common lets go down to the kitchens"

Remus rolled out of bed "Alright..."

They headed down to the kitchens and shared a hot chocolate, then feeling much more tired they walked back up to the common room. Although upon entering the room they noticed that they weren't the only ones up at 3am. "Marlene...Mary... What are you girls doing up?" asked Sirius

Marlene looked up at them "We couldn't sleep..."

"Yeah... So around ten minutes ago we came down here..." added Mary

"Well then, there's no hope in suffering through this alone" said Sirius taking a seat. "Common Moony, sit down"

He obeyed, and took the empty seat next to Mary.

They sat around and enjoyed each others company. Although no matter their conversation it always somehow related to Lily or ended with them talking about Lily, there was no point in fighting it.

"Remember back in forth year... when you guys threw paint balloons at her?" asked Marlene, giggling

Remis and Sirius burst out laughing, "Do you remember the face she gave us!" asked Remus between laughs.

"Oh man, a part of me misses those days" said Sirius

"Me too!" added Marlene.

They reminisced more until the early morning; when Mary had finally fallen asleep leaning on Remus, and Remus was barely awake himself. Marlene rested her head on Sirius' lap and she as well was almost asleep, Sirius was the only one wide awake. He couldn't go to sleep, no matter how hard he tried... Every time he closed his eyes he saw Lily lying in a huge pile of blood, no one else had that problem for no one else had experienced what he had last night. He sat there and watched Marlene sleep, _she looked beautiful, so peaceful. _He thought.

Suddenly he heard a door close, and someone was descending the stairs. He quietly got up trying his best not to disturb Marlene. Although, unfortunately he didn't succeed in not waking anyone up.

"Where are you going?" asked Marlene, although her question was answered when James walked into the common room.

James looked surprised to see everyone awake "What are you guys doing up?"

All heads turned towards James although no one responded they all just stared in disbelief. James had no recognition about the events of last night; he had a vague memory of snogging his old girlfriend, although he deeply hoped he had just dreamt that.

Marlene stood up and approached James drawing her wand and pressing it up against James' chest "**POTTER YOU COMPLETE AND TOTAL GIT. YOU'RE AN ARROGANT STUPID ASS JERK FACE!" **

"Wait what?"

Although before Marlene could hex James into the next week, Sirius had grabbed her wand. Although Sirius too was mad at him, James didn't deserve to be jinxed. She then turned on him "BLACK! GIVE ME MY WAND!"

Remus and Mary were now on their feet; "Now everyone just calm down" said Remus

Marlene had tears of anger running down her cheeks "I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! It's his fault!"

Mary approached her "Oh Marlene... She'll be alright, you know she will... It won't happen again..."

She fell to her knees "T-that's w-what I w-was told l-last t-time, b-but it d-did happen a-again..."

Sirius then walked up to her "Common let's go..."

He then helped her onto her feet and they exited the common room. James watched them go, still extremely confused about what was going on "There's something you're not telling me...?"

Remus and Mary shared a look, Remus told her to go on ahead, and once the portrait had swung closed, he then turned back to James. "Something big happened last night and I beg you Prongs... Stay out of it..."

"Moony, what the hell happened...?"

Remus was trying to keep calm, but he was so angry "YOU TELL ME!"

"Moony calm down and just explain..."

"NO JAMES! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! Marlene was right; it's pretty much all your fault. You make out with your girlfriend, I would say your ex... But I highly doubt she's still that!"

"Wait! I snogged Olivia?"

Remus pulled out his wand, and before James could react, he had been stunned. Remus stood in shock for a moment, _I just stunned one of my best friends_, but he quickly got over it, "Merry Christmas James" he said and marched out of the common room.

* * *

**A long chapter. **

**I just couldn't find a place to stop it. I hope you enjoyed it though. **

**Thanks to those who Reviewed. **

**Please keep Reviewing. **

**-Hulio  
**


	20. Chapter 20

_Remus pulled out his wand, and before James could react, he had been stunned. Remus stood in shock for a moment, I just stunned one of my best friends, but he quickly got over it, "Merry Christmas James" he said and marched out of the common room._

He entered the Hospital Wing to find Mary and Marlene passed out in two chairs beside Lily's bed and Sirius standing beside her bed watching her sleep, looking as if he was deep in thought, although he looked up once Remus had entered.

"What happened with Prongs...?" asked Sirius as Remus approached the bed. "Did you tell him?"

"I started to, although he seems to care more about snogging Olivia"

"That git..."

"Yeah... He deserved to be stunned"

Sirius looked at Remus in surprise, "You stunned him?" Remus nodded in response "I'm impressed Moony..." The two boys suppressed their laughter for they didn't want to wake the girls. Although all their hope of not waking the girls were lost when James burst in through the doors, causing Mary, Marlene, Remus and Sirius to jump. Reacting almost instinctively Sirius disarmed James who happened to have drawn his wand and Remus cast a silencio charm on him, then together Remus and Sirius forced James out of the Hospital Wing and into the corridor, closing the doors behind them. Remus then pointed his wand towards James "Alright Prongs, I'm going to remove the charm, but if you are going to start yelling I request that we then go to our dormitory"

James nodded in agreement, and Remus removed the charm "W-was that L-Lily in t-there?"

They both nodded, with that a rush of sadness and worry hit James, although this didn't go unnoticed by either Sirius or Remus. "Prongs, we know you'll want to go in there...but you can't..." said Sirius

He instantly looked up, and groaned "What in the world happened last night, would one of you please tell me...?"

Remus and Sirius shared a glance, they knew James would find out eventually but they also knew for a fact that he would want to be by Lily's side. They couldn't let her see him, she would be extremely upset and angry towards him, there's no way that she would be able to handle it. Plus with Marlene and Mary by her side, James wouldn't even be able to get close to her. Sirius sighed "We'll tell you mate...but you have to promise me you won't go in there, no matter what!"

"Yeah I won't go in there, just tell me!"

"No matter what?" Remus questioned him.

"Common Moony...Padfoot... Just tell me!"

Sirius shook his head; James didn't understand it would cause so much more damage for him to go in there. "No matter what..."

He realized that even if they didn't tell him what happened, he wouldn't be allowed to go near Lily anyway so he agreed "I swear on my life... No matter what you tell me, I won't let Lily see me..."

They agreed that this was acceptable and Remus conjured James a chair, for he would not be able to take the story standing up. Once he sat, Remus dove into the story...

"What? I didn't mean to hurt her... You guys know I only did it to get back at Moony! You did tell her that...?"

"I tried Prongs... but she wouldn't listen..." said Remus, feeling sorry for Lily once again. "Anyway... Continuing on –"

"No wait Moony..." said James, and he turned to Padfoot "Are you alright?"

Sirius couldn't bear to hear this story again, it was painful enough the first time and it was harder for him than anyone else. They just don't understand, she could have died... "Yea... I'm going to go... back inside..." he said stumbling over his words and walking back into the Hospital Wing.

"What was that all about...?" asked James, feeling slightly worried for his best friend

"Forget about it... Let me continue"

James fell silent once more as Remus continued to tell him the events from last night, although Remus didn't stop at James' gasps or when he saw that there were tears in his eyes.

With a deep breath he finished "And there you have it..."

Anger took over James "I am going to kill Snape."

Remus forced James back into the chair "As much as we all would appricate that, Dumbledore asked us not to go and seek revenge on who we thought to be the culprit."

James took a deep breath and the anger went away, "But Moony... I'm not quite sure I fully understand something... Why is it that Padfoot seem to be much more affected by what happened..?"

"James... don't you see... If Padfoot had found Lily just a few minutes later she would have been dead" at this James cringed "But he found her and carried her all the way up here, saving her life... a-and when he came down to tell us... I-I'd never seen him like that... he was scared and in shock... It was just terrible Prongs... I mean, I went down later... t-to clean up the blood... b-but there was so much of it... I can't even imagine what's going on in his head..."

James stood up once more "I need to get in there..."

Remus though saw this coming. "No Prongs, You can't... I wouldn't help her..."

"Moony you don't understand... I need to see Padfoot..."

At that very moment Remus had never been so proud of James, "Prongs... I'd hate to be the one to say this... but you can talk to him later... None of us slept last night and he's probably crashed by now... I'll tell him to find you the moment he wakes up" James nodded in agreement, even if he had tried to fight, Remus would have eventually won, for he was good with words. He gave James a quick smile and turned back into the Hospital Wing.

Remus was right, once he re-entered the Hospital Wing he found Sirius, Mary and Marlene all passed out in chairs beside Lily's bed, he was just about to sit down himself when Madame Pomfrey came out of her office. "I figured you four would be here... Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Thirty minutes at the max..."

She frowned "Unfortunately you four will have to go back to your dormitories, Ms. Evan's needs her rest and I need visitors to be gone before I can further help her.

"We were just so worried... W-we couldn't sleep"

"I would be surprised if you had, none the less, you all must leave. You may visit Ms. Evan's later. "

"Yes, alright... I'll wake them..."

Remus then woke up Sirius, and the boys carried the girls all the way back to their dorms. They don't know how they managed to get passed the protection put up so that no boys could get into the girls dorms, but they did, and lightly placed them in their rightful beds before returning to their own dorm. Both boys immediately fell asleep upon lying down, and both of them were too tired to notice that James was not in his bed.

Once Remus had turned his back on James, believing he would head back to the dormitory, James had pulled his invisibility cloak over his head and followed Remus into the Hospital Wing. He had stood a few beds over from where everyone sat, and watched them closely, it was now obvious to him that something was wrong with Sirius... _but why didn't he see it before? He's my best mate... I should know these things... he thought. _He had noticed that Madame Pomfrey had walked into the room, yet he paid no attention to the conversation that she was having with Remus for he was immediately distracted when he set eyes on Lily. She was lying in bed, motionless, pail and she looked sad... The smile that she usually wore had vanished and the colour in her skin was gone too. Just by looking at her, James was able to tell that she had lost a lot of blood, for this showed in her face. How long he had been standing there, he did not know, although it apparently had been a long time, for everyone had cleared out of the room.

James tried to turn around and headed for the door, but he found it hard to look away from Lily. Just as he managed to walk away, Lily mumbled something under her breath, James quickly checked to make sure she was still sleeping and for a second time turned towards the door, but she mumbled once again, although this time her heard her. He couldn't move, he must have heard her wrong..._Did she really just s-say my n-name... i-in her s-sleep? _

_

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**I hope you enjoyed reading. **

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**I hope to hear from you soon... **

**- Hulio :D  
**


	21. Chapter 21

Lily felt strangely light headed when she woke, however the moment she awoke she immediately wanted to return to the dream-state she had just left. She was having the most amazing dream, a dream that no matter how hard she tried, wouldn't come back...

_Lily was running through a field_

"_Stop it! Stop chasing me! Leave me alone!" she yelled, _

_The masked figures repeated over and over the one word that hurt her the most, "Mudblood!" _

_She had tripped and was now looking up toward the masked figures that were standing above her "Leave me alone! Please!" she screamed tears streaming down her cheek, they raised their wands and she knew this was the end... _

"_Hey Pricks!" yelled someone in the distance, they turned around and before they could do anything they were all magically blown away. _

_She was helped to her feet "Are you alright?" he asked, wiping her tears away and she soon realized that it was none other than James Potter. She hugged him and thanked him for saving her, feeling safe when he returned the hug. _

"_How can I ever thanks you..?" she asked batting her eyelashes _

"_No thanks necessary" _

"_But surely there is something that I could do...?" _

"_Well there is one thing..." he responded, closing the distance between them and kissing her lips. She was stunned for a moment, but then found herself kissing him again...and again...and again..._

Lily sighed, "Great, now I'm dreaming about him..." She had been telling herself over and over that she didn't like James Potter, but no matter where she looked he was always there, and now he was in her dreams! The dream had felt so real, Lily then realized she didn't feel safe anymore. _Why am I in the hospital wing...? _she asked herself. She screamed, a blood curtailing scream, causing an alarmed Madame Pomfrey to run into the room. _Severus... No! I must have been dreaming that, he's evil but there's no way he would do that! I was his friend! _She wouldn't believe that Severus did this to her, they had been friends, _he couldn't have done it... _Though Lily, a voice in her head then whispered back _but he did..._

"What in the world!" cried Madame Pomfrey running to her side, tears were now streaming down Lily's cheeks "Are you alright darling?"

"I had lowered my wand... h-he said t-that he was s-sorry... and then he c-cursed m-me. He w-was my f-friend... h-he was a-asking f-for forgiveness, t-then c-cursed m-me." Lily broke down, not being able to take all this information in at one time. Realizing that Severus, the boy who once meant everything to her, had hurt her, and the other boy, James, who repeatedly hurt her, suddenly meant the world. Lily eventually cried herself back to sleep, although this time she dreamt not of James, but of the boy her betrayed their friendship and trust.

Madame Pomfrey stayed with her while as she cried. _This was a lot for one girl to handle on her own, she would tell Dumbledore what she said later and at this very moment Lily just needed someone to be with her, to feel safe, _she thought while reassuring Lily that she is safe now.

"What's she doing now?" asked Dumbledore,

"She finally cried herself back to sleep..." replied Madame Pomfrey

"And you're absolutely sure you heard her correctly..?"

"Albus... I am absolutely positive... She didn't say a name...but you hear the rumours around the school."

"I am aware of those rumours..."

"You must know who cursed her!"

"I know what you're implying but I beg you to remember, that one is innocent until proven guilty."

"Albus...please...just consider the possibility..."

"Don't fret... I am considering it."

Madame Pomfrey retreated from the Headmaster's office, absolutely sure she knew who had cast the spell at Lily.

* * *

Mary, Marlene, Sirius and Remus spent another day in the Hospital Wing; none had been told that Lily had awoken a few hours before their arrival in a state of panic. They continued to watch her all day, barely muttering a word between them; they were all extremely worried for Lily. The doors to the Hospital Wing opened, and although all four of them heard it no one had turned around to see who had entered.

"W-what the h-hell?" asked Alice. They immediately turned around for they all recognized her voice.

"Alice!" cried Marlene, standing up and giving her a big hug "What are you doing back... you're not supposed to be back until the end of this week?"

"When no one wrote, I knew something was up... So I came back early..."

"Y-you're parents l-let you?" asked Mary now hugging Alice as well

"Well they were a little angry seeing as yesterday was Christmas day... but they got over it..."

Marlene gasped and everyone stared at her "Although, what happened is way more important... we missed Christmas..." tears were running down Marlene's cheeks and Sirius ran to her, holding her close. Through all the tears he heard her say "C-Christmas i-is a t-time for j-joy and p-peace... I c-can't b-believe t-the person t-that did t-this!" Sirius felt a pang of sadness, for this had not crossed him mind... Christmas had entirely slipped his mind, the only thing that was running through his mind the past day was Lily's well being.

"So what exactly happened while I was away... and don't skip out on any details..." asked Alice

"Well Marlene and I were about going to lunch... we'll tell you while we eat...?" responded Mary

Both girls agreed to this idea and said their goodbyes. Sirius kissed Marlene on the cheek and watched her go, when she turned around to see if they would join them, both Remus and Sirius kindly rejected their offer and sat back down once again. After a few minutes of silence, Remus spoke "Padfoot..? Do you think it's my fault..?"

"What...?"

"I mean... this is my fault, isn't it..."

"Moony... why would you even think such a thing..?"

Remus took a deep breath "It's just, I was trying to get James to do what you did, and prove me wrong by going to ask the girl of his dreams to dance... I knew that Olivia would push him over the top and I was positive to get away from Olivia, he would take Lily... but he didn't... it's all my fault"

"Moony, we all make mistakes... but this is not one of yours... I don't care how guilty you feel, or how much you think this is your fault, it's not... Don't ever say those words again, because this time you're wrong."

"But what if...she dies... she hasn't even stirred in her bed since last night..."

Both boys fell silent, this idea had been growing in the back of their minds but neither boy wanted to express this idea.

Madame Pomfrey had been listening in on their conversation and cleared her throat, "Actually boys... she has stirred,"

They both looked at her in shock "Wait what?"

She sighed, she really had hoped that she wouldn't be the one to tell them "Well, this morning, an hour or so after you four went off to bed, Ms. Evans awoke in a panic state. Screaming and crying, it was awful."

"Why didn't you tell us before, or come and get us!" asked Sirius

"You boys have a lot to worry about, I thought this would just worry you more, knowing how she was this morning...I'm worried about you lot"

Sirius looked like he was ready to yell but before he could Remus cut across him "Thank you for telling us," She nodded and went back into her office closing the door behind her. Once the door clicked shut someone else spoke "There's something else..."

Remus and Sirius jumped at this voice for it appeared to be coming from no one, Remus was first to figure it out "Prongs, take off that stupid invisibility cloak"

The cloak fell to the ground, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing...? How long have you been there...? Whisper-shouted Sirius

"You can't expect me to just sit in the common room waiting around until one of you decided to talk to me... I had to be with all of you, even if you couldn't see me..."

Neither Sirius nor Remus felt anger towards James, for they knew this must be hard for him "How long have you been there?" repeated Sirius

"When the girls left, I slipped in before the door closed. Plus Moony, I agree with Padfoot...None of this is your fault... because it's my entire fault..." he whispered just loud enough for them to hear him.

"Now listen up both of you! Neither of you wished this upon Lily, neither of you cast that spell, neither of you hurt Lily! So shut up because it's not your fault, I swear to Merlin if I hear you saying that again, you'll be sorry" said Sirius

The room fell silent; James walked over to Lily's bed and placed his hand upon hers. "I might not of hurt her on the outside, but I sure hurt her on the inside Padfoot"

They were both surprised to hear these words exit James' mouth; he had never sounded so disappointed in himself in the entire six years that they had known each other. Not knowing how to respond to their mate, Remus quickly changed the conversation "Prongs... earlier... you said there was something else... what is this something...?"

James redirected his gaze from Lily to Remus and Sirius "Well, you see... this isn't my first time being in here under the invisibility cloak..."

Sirius rolled his eyes "We figured... continue..."

"The last time I was in here, was a few minutes after you all left... I was just standing in here, and decided to leave... but then Lily muttered something... in her sleep..."

"What did she say?" asked Remus

He hung his head, a little embarrassed "She sort of said... well... she said... my name..."

_Oh no! What? No... He couldn't have heard that... I mean, if James' finds out how Lily feels about him then she'll think I told him and hate me... Plus she asked me not to tell, so she obviously doesn't want him to know yet... _Sirius was panicking _what should I do? I have to make sure he doesn't find out _"A-are you sure that's what she said..?"

"I'm pretty sure..." replied James "What do you think this means..?"

Sirius shrugged trying to keep cool "I don't think it means anything Prongs"

Remus stared at him, _what do you think you're doing... you're going to hurt him Padfoot! _He thought, and then he finally caught on and realized that maybe Lily didn't want James to know. "Yeah Prongs, I mean people say things in their sleep all the time... I doubt it means anything"

They both felt deeply sorry for lying to their best friend and couldn't help but feel bad when James looked sad after hearing this from his mates "Yeah, you're probably right... I probably just heard her wrong..."

"It's alright Pronsy, she'll come around eventually" said Sirius trying to boost his spirits.

James sighed "Yeah... maybe... anyway, now I have to go and break up with my ex... again. I'll see you guys later..."

He left the room and couldn't help but look a little disappointed. The moment the door closed Remus spoke "What the bloody hell was that about"

Sirius shushed him and pulled out the Marauders Map. Remus understood immediately that Sirius was checking to make sure that James had actually walked away and wasn't once again standing under his invisibility cloak. Sirius sighed in relief to see that James was now standing outside the Great Hall "Alright... I'll tell you what that was about..."

"Good... I mean, I think I caught on... but continue..."

"Well the other night, Lily couldn't sleep and nor could I... So we went down into the kitchen and got to talking... and well, she accidentally told me that..."

"She fancies James"

Sirius nodded in agreement "Anyway, then at Quidditch try outs she talked to me again, and asked me to not tell James. I realized a few seconds ago, that she wasn't ready for James to know..."

Remus understood "So you covered for her...?"

"Exactly... I feel like she would have wanted me too..."

Before Remus could answer however, someone else did... "You were right..."

Remus and Sirius both froze in shock, and their first instinct was to make sure that James was still in the Great Hall, which he was, so that only left one other person.

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**Please Review! :) **

**I hope you enjoyed it. **

**- Hulio  
**


	22. Chapter 22

Both boys eyed Lily's bed and slowly approached it "Lily...?" asked Remus. She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings and smiled at the boys, "Thank you" The boys stood next to her bed in shock, "Are you guys alright...?"

They both quickly shot out of the shocked state he had been in, and Lily was suddenly bombarded with a montage of questions, to which Lily burst out laughing.

"Why are you laughing...?" asked Sirius

She gained control "You two are being ridiculous, you're acting like I almost died or something."

Neither Remus or Sirius responded, they were not going to tell Lily that in fact she did almost die and if Sirius had not found her she wouldn't talking to them right now.

Lily stared at them in disbelief "What aren't you telling me..?"

"Nothing..." Sirius responded

"How stupid do you think I am...? Of course you two are hiding something..."

Although before they could answer, a certain someone burst through the doors to the Hospital Wing, and stopped dead once they realized that Lily wasn't alone.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here!" yelled Sirius

"A stupid question like always Black, I'm here to see my friend."

Sirius couldn't believe what he was hearing "Friend! You did this to-"

Lily cut serious off and rose from her bed "Stop Sirius let me handle this..."

"Lily you shouldn't..." started Remus

Lily didn't hear him or chose not to listen to him, "Friend? I'm your friend...? HA! If this is what I get from your friendship I don't want it!"

Severus sighed, "Now Lily, calm down, you're tired, and probably don't remember much..."

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! I REMEMBER EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED!"

"No you don't" he said calmly, walking towards her "I tried to help you Lily... Mulciber did this to you, and then I stunned him and brought you up here..."

Sirius forgot about his wand and was about to tackle Snape although Remus saw this and held him back, "Don't listen to him Lily...He's lying!" Sirius yelled.

"Shut up Black!" hollered Snape in return, "Lily who are you going to believe, me, the guy who's been your friend since we were young. Or them, the guys who stood in the way of our friendship..."

The room fell silent; _I can't believe he would even have to ask, _thought Lily. After what felt like a long minute she spoke "My friend... You think you're my friend! Friends don't do this to each other than lie to their faces! Get out of here Snape!"

He stared at her in disbelief, "You're going to regret this you filthy little Mudblood."

Remus could no longer hold Sirius back, although before he could hex Snape into next week, Lily did something that caused all three boys to freeze. Snape then ran out of the Hospital Wing claiming to never speak to her again, which was fine by her. The moment the doors closed Sirius and Remus dissolved into laughter and Lily's cheeks reddened.

"Bloody hell Lily!" Remus managed to say "That was brilliant"

Sirius straitened up "I can't believe Lily Evan's just punched ol'Snivellus in the face!" she smiled "I'm proud of you Evans..."

Lily shrugged "He deserved it..." she sounded exactly like James, and this didn't go unnoticed by neither Sirius nor Remus. They broke out into laughter once more, "Wow flower, if I didn't know any better I would have thought you were Prongs." Remus chuckled in agreement, although before he could answer Lily jumped in "I DID NOT!"

"Oh yes you did" replied Sirius,

"Shut up!" she noticed they both had stupid grins plastered across their faces, she then blushed. They both stopped laughing the moment they saw her reddening and looked at each other.

"You don't think..." started Sirius

"It's a possibility..." replied Remus

"But I only just found out..."

"They've known each other for 6 years..."

"Yeah..."

"Well, we could ask her"

"You just saw her punch Snape..."

"Oh yea..."

"She would probably kill us ..."

Lily jumped in "I'm still here you know...?"

They eyed her curiously, debating whether or not to ask her. "What!" she asked

Sirius shrugged "No, never mind... It's nothing..."

"If I promise not to kill you will you tell me...?"

"Only if you promise," replied Remus, looking extremely nervous

"Yeah, I promise, you have my word"

A grin grew on Sirius' face "Well Flower... We both know you fancy Prongs..."

"I do not!" she whispered

Remus chuckled, "Sure you don't..."

"Anyway... Flower... Do you maybe fancy Prongs a little more than we thought...?"

Lily's eyes widened and she finally managed to speak "no... No,No, NO!"

They both stared at her, definitely not convinced, "No I do not _love_ James, I don't even fancy him!"

Their eyes redirected from her to each other and they appeared to be having a silent conversation, then they both smiled at her. "We never asked if you loved him..."

_Oh shit! Why did I have to go and say love..._ thought Lily, "Well I don't, for your information"

Remus chuckled and Sirius winked at her "Sure you don't flower..."

"Well we better be going..." started Remus,

"Don't you dare say a word of this to anyone,"

"We won't..."

"Wow that thought never even crossed my mind flower"

"I will murder y-"

"Ms. Evan's what on earth are you doing out of bed!" cried Madame Pomfrey. No one had seen her enter the room. "Boys you must leave Ms. Evan's needs to rest"

Sirius smirked "Whatever you say Madame Pomfrey..." the boys then turned towards the doors.

Lily sighed "Sirius, Remus... please..."

Neither boy responded, if they told James, she would murder them, it was simple.

Mary and Marlene had just finished filling Alice in when James entered the Great Hall holding hands with none other than Olivia.

Alice was first to notice this "What the hell does he think he's doing?"

Marlene couldn't help but notice that for the first time in weeks, James actually looked happy. "You don't think that they are actually back together... I mean, they just snogged... They couldn't have actually gotten back together?"

"I don't know... It sure looks like they're back together"

Alice made a grab for her wand and rose "Let's see them get back together when he's dead!"

Marlene and Mary quickly got up and forced her back into her seat "Calm down..." whispered Mary

"Yeah I'll talk to Sirius and see what's up..." after that being said Marlene got up from the table and headed towards the Hospital Wing for the second time that morning. Although she didn't have to walk very far since she ran into them on her way. "Sirius, what the hell is James doing wit-"she stopped herself for she noticed that Sirius and Remus were beaming. "What's got you two in such a good mood?"

"Nothing..." replied Sirius, although they wanted Lily to think that they would tell their friends, they didn't and weren't going to, their friends were smart, they would figure it out eventually. "So what's this about James...?"

She eyed them curiously, but continued anyway "Well... Alice, Mary and I were eating lunch and we got into telling her about the whole big event that happened-"

Remus cut her off "The short version please..."

Marlene glared at him "James is happily snogging Olivia down in the Great Hall."

Remus and Sirius stared open-mouthed at her. "That lying git" said Sirius under his breath

They nodded in agreement and Remus spoke "He told us that he was going to break it off with her... Guess he changed his mind..."

Marlene rolled her eyes "Yeah... he must have... I mean... is he really that dense..."

Sirius laughed "Yes, he is"

"It's been like 3 years and he hasn't even realized Lily fancies him..."

"What! 3 years..." cried Remus

Marlene shrugged "Probably more than that, she's always liked James, just never admitted it to herself or to anyone. She would try and convince herself otherwise... but she's finally accepted it."

"So, what are we going to do about this...?" asked Sirius

"You try and talk some sense into James... if that doesn't work... well we will think of something..."

"Alright... Well let's go see what we can do"

They all then proceeded to walk into the Great Hall, so Remus and Sirius could pry James' lips from Olivia's long enough to talk some sense into him. All three of they prayed that James would listen to reason, although they all knew it was highly unlikely. Upon entering the Great Hall, Marlene parted from Remus and Sirius and rejoined Mary and Alice. They both looked up as she sat down and looked at her hopefully.

Marlene sighed "They're going to try and talk to James, but you know him... he barely ever listens to reason" the hope in Mary and Alice's eyes faded.

"Maybe the time will be different..." said Mary trying her best to stay positive.

"I hope you're right. For everyone's sake, that girl is bloody annoying..." said Alice and all three girls laughed for it was one hundred percent true.

Sirius cleared his throat when he and Remus approached James and, to their disgusted, Olivia. This didn't seem to stop them from snogging, so he tried again... and nothing.

Sirius rolled his eyes "Oh bloody hell Prongs!"

They stopped and James spoke "Moony...Padfoot... hey, I didn't see you there..."

"Obviously..." replied Remus, and they both sat down. "Olivia can we talk to our best mate...alone..."

She crossed her arms, "Whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of me, I happen to be his girlfriend."

Sirius rolled his eyes, the fact that she just called herself his best mates girl friend was revolting. James spoke though, before Sirius could "Honey, you might want to leave me here with them... I have a feeling I know what they're here to talk about, and I'm not quite sure you would want to hear it."

"James if you don't want me here then just tell me!" she replied

"No, nothing like that... I definitely want you here."

"Fine then, I'm staying."

He sighed and turned back to his best mates, knowing that no good would come of this "Alright... go on; tell me what I know you're going to say..." Remus looked at Sirius, and gave him a hand gesture that suggested he yell at James first, Sirius politely nodded and then turned to James "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU THINKING?"

"Padfoot let me explain..."

"NO PRONGS! I DON'T CARE FOR YOUR EXCUSES ANYMORE!"

"I-"

"Just shut up and listen to him Prongs!" yelled Remus

James stopped talking and Sirius thanked Remus before continuing. "You remember what you told us back upstairs..._ and now if you excuse me I have to go and break up with my ex-girlfriend again_... What happened to that plan, huh Prongs?"

James lay his head on the table, _oh here it goes, he thought. _ Olivia stared at her boyfriend "You were going to dump me...?"

Before James could defend himself Sirius spoke "Olivia, can you shut up! We're not finished. You wanted to stay, and staying entitles being quiet... " He then turned back to James "Well anyway... We think you're about to do the right thing, but then we hear that you're down he snogging _this_" he said dryly.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" yelled James flaming with anger "YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED UPSTAIRS AND WHAT WAS SAID. DON'T GO MAKING UP LIES JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK I'D BE HAPPIER WITH SOMEONE ELSE, AND INCASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED I AM HAPPY."

Remus and Sirius didn't speak; he was lying to save his relationship with Olivia... _git thought Sirius. _

"I would expect my best mates to see me happy like this and be happy for me!" silence fell over the group "Neither of you have anything to say... FINE!" he said standing up "Let's go Olivia..." Once they knew that James and Olivia had left the Great Hall, they both sighed.

"What the bloody hell is his problem... he just lied straight to her face!" said Remus

Sirius stood up, "He's a git..." and with that he ushered Remus to follow him over to the girls.

"What happened, we heard yelling and" they both sat down and sighed again "he didn't listen to you guys did he?"

"No," said Sirius "And he even lied straight to her face."

"Wait he did what..." asked Alice

Remus continued this time "Sirius was making a reference to the conversation we had earlier where he told us he would dump Olivia, and then he told her that we were lying!"

"But you weren't lying were you...?"

"Nope"

"What a git" said Mary looking up from the paper she had been reading.

Marlene shrugged; "onto plan B?" they all looked equally as confused.

"Plan B: Keep Lily away from James and Olivia."

The rest of the day continued as followed. They visited Lily, filled her in on the latest gossip. Went to dinner and then bed, neither of the five friends spoke or heard from James. Although when he finally returned to the common room he found a note on the door addressed to him, it read:

_James, _

_We don't want to hear or speak to you. You can't open this door for this door only opens to the Marauders, a group in which you are no longer part of seeing as you broke about 10 rules in the Marauders Handbook that was written back in forth year._

_Here's a list of the rules you broke: _

_1 – The Marauder must be kind to his fellow Marauders _

_2 –The Marauder must listen to the opinions of his fellow Marauders_

_3 – The fellow Marauders are almost always right; their opinions are the only ones that count. _

_4 – The Marauder must be truthful_

_5 – The Marauder should never date another girl that his fellow Marauder's do not approve of_

_6 – The Marauder must be kind_

_7 – The Marauder should always put his fellow Marauders first _

_8 – The Marauder must show his Gryffindor pride (You did not show courage! You are a coward James!)_

_9 – If the Marauder is in the wrong, he must apologize to the fellow Marauders he hurt_

_10 – No matter how much the Marauder thinks he likes someone else; he must never hind from the truth._

_Since you have broken all these rules without a single apology you have hereby been voted out of the Marauders. You're things have been moved down into the common room. _

_Sincerely,_

_The fellow Marauders._

James groaned, he regretted signing the stupid agreements back in forth year, but he manly regretted the words he had spoken to his best mates earlier that evening. _What the hell? Number 10 was never in the handbook, they just added that in...Plus I would have apologized to them but they wouldn't have accepted it unless it was over between Olivia and I. They just don't understand, I've been chasing Lily around for 6 years, and she still doesn't like me... Maybe I'm just annoying her... I thought that she would be happy that I'm off her back now that I have another girlfriend... _He was lost in thought, there was no way he was going to end it with Olivia, _she was kind and made him happy, plus she was good looking and good at snogging_. James finally fell asleep on the lumpy couch at 3am, only to wake up two hours later.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed reading this. **

**I'll update soon, thanks to all those who Reviewed, **

**To those who didn't Review, well we both know you wanted to ;) **

**I'd love to hear from you! **

**- Hulio  
**


	23. Chapter 23

A week went by and the break was nearing its end, Hogwarts students were returning, some ready to continue their classes, others not so ready. Peter was surprised when he returned to find that all of James' belongings had been moved out of their room, apparently he had changed rooms and was now sharing a dorm with David and Henry, two Gryffindor boys in their year who they weren't too fond of. Although after hearing the story, he had sided with Remus and Sirius. There had been one or two fights between them although the three Marauders tended to stay away from James as much as possible. Plan B was going perfectly, Lily had no idea what-so-ever about James and Olivia. It had been going amazingly manly because she had not been allowed to leave the Hospital Wing, but the plan would be harder to keep in action once she was let out, which was going to be soon. Everyone besides James and Lily were seated at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. James was off somewhere with Olivia, and Lily was still in the Hospital Wing.

Marlene swallowed the food in her mouth and started "Okay, so Lily should be let out anytime soon, once she's let out there should be someone with her at every moment, to check around corners and in room making sure _you know who _isn't there, and no Peter I am not talking about the dark lord when I say you know who."

The all laughed together at Peter confused expression although they stopped once James and Olivia had entered the Great Hall, holding hands and stuck together like glue. James noticed his former friends and sat as far away from them as possible. Sirius couldn't help but notice that James and Olivia had seated themselves on the same side of the table, which meant that neither of them wanted to talk, they just preferred to disgust the others around them by showing their affection in the early morning.

Sirius rolled his eyes as they started to kiss "Do they really have to do that...? Some of us are trying to eat"

Marlene laughed at Sirius, and he responded by giving her a look that could kill. "Someone's in a bad mood..." stated Marlene

"I'm sorry... he just, irritates me..."

"Well I hope he continues to, you look cute when you're irritated" she replied kiss him on the cheek.

He beamed and swung his arm around her, she was lost in his eyes only to be snapped out of it by Peter stabbing her with his fork, "Marlene... Who's first on Lily watch...?"

She sighed rubbing her hand "I don't know Peter...why?"

"Because they're not doing a very good job..." he said pointing to a figure that was just about to walk into the Great Hall.

"Shit!" cried Alice, Mary and Marlene all in unison. Then they all got up as quickly as possible to prevent her from seeing James and Olivia. No matter how fast they ran neither girl could have prevented Lily from spotting James sucking another girl's face. Upon seeing them Lily turned on her heal and left the Great Hall as quickly as she came. All three girls sighed, "This can't be good" Alice managed to say

Mary rolled her eyes "Obviously not... What should we do?"

"You two go, I'll catch up with you in a minute..." said Marlene turning back to the table as the other two girls ran in hopes of catching up with Lily. She took her seat next to Sirius once again and couldn't help but grin at the nervous expression plastered across the boys faces, although her smile quickly faded when she told them that Lily had seen them. "I mean, there wasn't much hope anyway, who could miss that" she said pointing in James' direction.

"What's going on in that boys head lately..?" asked Remus

Sirius shrugged "I don't really care,"

"You should care because I'm going to need you guys to attempt to talk to him..." replied Marlene

"But Marlene, you know we're all in a fight right now... it's not like he'll care what we have to say anyway..." said Sirius

"Will you please just try...I don't care what you do, just make him feel bad for what he did. You have to make sure he knows that this is his entire fault..."

"Isn't that a little harsh...?"

"Yes, but sometime one needs to be harsh to get their point across, right Remus?" she gave him a wink and walked away. He knew she had been referring to the night of the dance when Remus had made Sirius feel so bad that he asked her to dance.

"What did she mean by that" asked Sirius

Remus shrugged and got up from the table "I have no idea... Come on, we had better go attempt to talk to him..."

* * *

"Lily!" cried Mary, "Come back!"

"Lily! Where are you?" yelled Alice

Lily was long gone; they had heard her footsteps fade a good three minutes ago, they finally stopped and went on their way back to the Great Hall, on their way, they ran into Marlene. "No luck?"

"Nope... why does she have to be such a fast runner?" asked Alice, gasping for air.

Marlene and Mary both shrugged and the three girls decided to return to the breakfast they never finished eating.

* * *

_Stupid James Potter, I hate him! I HATE HIM SO MUCH! _Thought Lily, tears in her eyes, _He's a stupid git! I don't like him! _Lily stopped running and sat down against a wall, she was deep in thought. _Mary, Marlene and Alice have surely given up trying to catch up to me by now, I'm safe for the time being. Why did they hide this from her? Why hadn't Marlene and Mary told her about James and Olivia... _Lily continued to ponder the what if's and the maybe's when she saw a figure walking towards her.

Lily grabbed her wand not wanting to frighten the person; they appeared to be slowing down to talk to her.

"Hey Lily." They said.

Lily squinted and tried to make out the figure in the dark "Hi..?"

"I saw what happened in there, and well, I just wanted to make sure you're alright..."

"Oh yea... I'm fine." _Alright, a deep voice, must be a guy... she thought,_ although she was yanked from her thoughts when the mystery man started to laugh at her "Fine? That's the biggest lie in the world... What's wrong...?"

"I...umm... Well... I don't really know who you are... So I don't really want to tell you..."

He continued laughing "I'm so sorry" he gained control of himself "I'm Jackson Bones..."

"Oh, you're the seventh year that made the Gryffindor Quidditch team... You play seeker right?"

Jackson chuckled "No, I play keeper..."

Lily was thankful that it was so dark, for he wasn't able to see her blushing "Oh...sorry... I'm not all that familiar with Quidditch"

"Haven't you ever been to a game..?"

Even in the dark he could tell that Lily had shaken her head.

"Well then, I'd invite you to go to one with me, but I'll most likely be playing... Sorry to let you down" he said laughing a friendly laugh that warmed Lily's insides.

Lily was blushing like crazy now; he had just... sort of... kind of... asked her out. "I'm sure you'll make it up to me..."

He held his head higher, looking more confident. "Well, how about I make it up to you now..." Lily's heart was beating a mile a minute. "Shall you give me the honor of accompanying you to breakfast" he asked offering his arm to her.

She beamed and took his arm "It would be my pleasure..." The two then proceeded to the Great Hall, happily laughing together and instantly connecting. Lily felt nervous with Jackson, but a good nervous, James was the last thing on her mind.

* * *

Marlene and Mary sat down once again with Sirius, Remus and Peter. (Alice had gone and sat down with Frank, who was overjoyed to see her)

"We couldn't find her..." said Mary sitting down next to Remus. "We ran after her, but she's so bloody fast..."

Sirius swung his arm around Marlene as they returned to the previous way they had been sitting. "Did you talk to James?"

"Well we tried..." started Sirius

"And failed" sighed Remus

"Couldn't even pry them apart this time... Marlene are you even listening...?"

"Aren't you worried about what could happen...?" she asked, "About Lily, remember what happened last time..."

Remus sighed "We'd better go find her, and make sure she's alright..."

"I don't think that you're going to need too..." said Peter "Look!" he continued pointing to the doors to the Great Hall, which Lily had just appeared from on the arm of Jackson Bones.

Sirius whisper-shouted "What the hell is going on lately... the worlds gone mad, I tell you..."

"I'd better go talk with her... and see what's up..." said Marlene rising from her seat, although at the same moment she said that James and Olivia had caught sight of Lily and Jackson, and James looked as if he was jealous, this however did not go unnoticed by Sirius.

He pulled Marlene back into her seat "No... Stay... let her have fun; he's a nice bloke and good keeper too... I approve."

Mary clapped "Me too! He's super nice and extremely cute too"

"I also approve, but we all know that Sirius just wants to see James suffer a little..." said Remus as an evil grin grew on Sirius' face

Everyone laughed in agreement and acknowledged Lily and Jackson as they walked by, although didn't stop them when they continued down the table to sit by themselves.

* * *

**Sorry this chapter is really dull. **

**the next one will be better I promise :) **

**Hope you enjoyed it anyway, please Review! :) **

**- Hulio  
**


	24. Chapter 24

The rest of the break went by rather quickly, there was no new year's party thrown for it was usually hosted by the Marauders but James was still dating Olivia, so they were all still fighting. Lily and Jackson were getting much closer, so might have said that they were dating, although it wasn't official, she went and watched him play Quidditch and they sat together at lunch. Although once classes started again they were spending much less time together for they had different classes, so they valued all the time they spent together. The Thursday after school had restarted Remus and Peter were leaving Care of Magical Creatures when James ran up behind them. "Hey Moony, Wormtail"

"Hello James" replied Remus dryly.

James was a little taken aback that he had used his first name but continued speaking none the less "How have you two been?"

They shared a glance, not really sure of why James was talking to them, after all, they were still mad at him. "Why are you here?" asked Peter

He replied casually "Well, Olivia is in your class..."

"No James, he means why are you here talking to us, we are still mad at you" said Remus.

Again James was surprised at the use of his name. "Well...I... I'm sorry, deeply sorry. I should have listened to you three; you were right... I was lying to myself and to you guys, I don't like Olivia...never did actually. That was wrong of me and I'm sorry."

They stared at him in disbelief "So what are you going to do about that?" asked Remus

Peter jumped in before James could answer "by that, he means Olivia"

James had fully understood what Remus had meant but thanked Peter anyway, "Well, you see... I came over here actually to talk to her..." Remus groaned disapprovingly. "To break up with her..."

Remus had not been expecting this "Wait what..?"

James sighed; this wasn't going to be easy "I broke up with her..."

"But why...?"

"You guys were right, I shouldn't have done it, and she's a no good, cheating bitch."

Remus wasn't surprised "She was cheating on you?" James nodded "Well, I'm sorry..."

"Why? I mean... When I saw her with that bloke from Ravenclaw, I wasn't hurt... and that's when it hit me... I really didn't care... but every time I see Lily with Jackson, I want to hex that guy into next week... Anyway, I told her today that I saw her and ended it."

And then Remus caught James by surprise once again, for he was smiling. "I'm proud of you Prongs and it took you bloody long enough to figure it out..."

They man hugged while Peter stood there awkwardly. "Well Prongs, I'd like to tell you that you can move back into our dorm, but you can't..." Remus felt bad saying this.

"Why exactly..." he asked calmly

"Well, we put this charm on the door that prevents you to enter..."

"So just take off the charm..."

"It's not that easy Prongs... the charm only breaks when your forgiven for all the things you've done...but we can help you with those apologies."

James smiled "You two really are the best friends a bloke could have... well and Sirius, which I was thinking I would apologize to first."

Remus sighed "That's not going to be easy"

"I never expected it to, but friends like you three are worth fighting for" replied James as he beamed, "I'll see you at lunch," he said as he ran off towards transfiguration.

"Do you really think he means that?" asked Peter

Remus shrugged "When it comes to his friends, Prongs never lies"

* * *

"Lily don't leave me..." begged Jackson

She giggled "Jackson, stop it! I have to get to transfiguration."

He pulled her into a hug "Stay with me... just this once...?"

Although it was tempting Lily wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she skipped class "You know I can't do that..."

He shrugged "Yeah, but it was worth a shot wasn't it"

Lily rolled her eyes "ha-ha, you're so funny."

Lily checked her watch, she had only two minutes to get to class, Jackson sighed "Alright, go already!"

"Really..?"

"Yes, just go..." he kissed her on the cheek

"Thank you, you're amazing, you know?"

"Yeah, I know" But before Lily had the chance to walk away she had been lifted off her feet and pulled into his arms. They laughed together as they spun round in round. Lily really liked when Jackson did this, he didn't find the need to snog her excessively, he cherished the time they spent together. Both of them were laughing and having too good of a moment to notice that James had turned down the corridor on his way to transfiguration, the moment he saw them he felt anger boiling inside him, all he wanted in that moment was to be in Jackson's place. James continued walking at a slower pace. _Ok _he thought_, I have three options here, I can either bump into them on purpose forcing them to break apart, let them continue and let Lily be late, or casually bring it up that she has a minute to get to class as I walk by_. Sighing James realized that if he wanted Lily to forgive him, interruption her moment with Jackson would only make her angrier. James quickened his pace and as he passed by Lily and Jackson he muttered "You have a minute Lily"

He put her down, "I really have to go" she said blushing.

"Are you sure...?" Jackson asked one more time

Lily sighed "Yes, I'm sure, but I'll see you later" she kissed him on the cheek, and ran down the corridor. She slowed as she approached James, "thanks"

James shrugged, trying to hide the fact that he wanted to beat Jackson to a pulp, "Yeah, sure, whatever..."

She glared at him, "You didn't have to do that..."

"Yes I did" he whispered under his breath

She stopped dead, "And why might I ask, did you have to?"

_Oh shit, she heard that. _"He's not right for you Lily... I see how he acts at practice..."

"Oh yeah...?"

"Yeah and...well..."

She rolled her eyes, _this is so typical of Potter he's so dumb. _"I don't want you to get hurt Lily!" he cried

Lily could feel the tears coming, she's finally happy and he has to go and try to ruin it. "Since when have you cared?" She then quickly ran down the hall straight into class. James sighed, _that couldn't have gone any worse, try to tell her that you care about her and she gets mad. Good going James, _he thought as he followed her into the class. She had already taken her seat next to Marlene and was probably telling her all about what just happened. He sighed and took an empty seat on the opposite side of the class room from Lily.

"Ah ," said McGonagall once she noticed Lily had entered the classroom "Headmaster Dumbledore asked for you to please meet him in his office"

"Oh alright, thank you professor" replied Lily, as she gathered her books and rose from her seat.

"Oh and Ms. Evans, Dumbledore has developed a new love for chocolate frogs" With that Lily exited the class and proceeded to quickly walk down the corridor toward the Headmasters office, _Obviously McGonagall had been implying that the new password to his office was chocolate frogs, but she hadn't mentioned why he wanted to see me..._ She muttered the password to the giant gargoyle that hid the Headmaster's office, then climbed the stairs and knocked on the office door.

"Come in" spoke Dumbledore through the closed door. "Ms. Evan's how are you feeling?"

"Better Headmaster, and how are you?" responded Lily

He smiled "Oh just fine, thank you. Please sit"

Lily sat down in front of him "I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you here" to which Lily responded with a nod "Well, I've asked you here to further speak to you about the events that happened on Christmas Eve; it is of great importance that you tell who cursed you Ms. Evan's."

"But why professor?" she asked

"Ms. Evan's the caster used dark magic and this type of magic is not prohibited at Hogwarts therefore the caster must be punished"

Lily hung her head and whispered "I can't tell you..."

He looked over his half moon spectacles and eyed her curiously "Might I ask why?"

"It's just," she started making eye contact with him "I've known the caster for a while, and I happen to know they regretted what they did... Please sir, magic is all he has, it's all he's ever wanted... I just bring myself to take that away from him."

He chuckled "I've always admired your loyalty towards your friends; it takes a lot of courage to stand up for them. I will not ask you any further questions about the caster since you wish that they remain unnamed, although I do ask you to not go seeking revenge on him. You are may go Ms. Evans"

Lily nodded, rose from her chair and headed towards the door. "Oh and Ms. Evans, my door is always open if you need to speak to me."

She smiled and thanked him, then proceeded back down to Transfiguration. McGonagall was going on about the Five Principal Exceptions to Gawp's Law when Lily returned; having already memorized everything about them Lily was extremely bored.

James had been looking absentmindedly around the classroom and was first to notice Lily re-enter the classroom. He couldn't help but realize how bored she looked; **James** then took out a piece of parchment and started to write a note to Lily.

**Hey Lily**

Hello Potter

**What are you up to? **

I'm trying to pay attention, unlike you. 

**Alright, I guess I'll let you get back to that then**

Whatever Potter

_So talking with Lily didn't work out, she's mad at me... this should make apologizing to her much more interesting, _thought James as he took out another piece of parchment. After deciding that it would be pointless to attempt to talk to Lily, and that Sirius would probably not even respond, James took his quill and started planning Quidditch plays for their practice Saturday.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black detention tonight at 7, in the trophy room, I will not tolerate note passing in my classroom" said McGonagall

"But professor, we weren't even passing notes..." complained Sirius,

"Don't even try to convince me otherwise, I can see you too writing."

"But professor, Sirius is right, like always... I was planning stuff for Quidditch and well..." said James glancing in Sirius' direction

"I was doodling..." continued Sirius

She let out a sound of amusement, "Do you boys believe me to be that stupid...Detention for passing notes" James and Sirius both sighed, loudly, "Make that a double detention for lying to me."

Class ended not too soon after that, a wave of relief fell over the students that had just sat through an hour and a half of McGonagall going on about the Five Principle Exceptions to Gawp's Law. James rushed out of the classroom, hoping to get a minute or two to talk to Peter and Remus in the Great Hall before the others arrived. Sirius however hung back and walked with Lily and Marlene.

"Tough luck about tonight... I was hoping we could spend time together" said Marlene winking at him

Lily felt as if she might vomit, "Okay, Eww."

Sirius chuckled, "Says you Lily-flower, I would have been looking forward to it" he said throwing an arm over Marlene's shoulder.

"Again I repeat, ew..."

"Speaking of ew..." said Marlene pointing to a boy leaning up against a wall,

Lily rolled her eyes "Oh shut up, I'll see you later"

"Maybe, we might be too busy" replied Sirius

"Again, EW!" she said, as she walked away she could hear them giggling.

Jackson pretended not to notice her walking towards him.

Lily smiled "hey."

He turned to look at her with a ridiculous attempt at him being surprised "Fancy meeting you here"

She shrugged "Not really... Since you fancy me..."

"This is true... The feelings mutual I hope...?"

Lily stood on her tippy-toes and kissed him on the cheek "Definitely"

He sighed, Lily was well aware that he longed for their lips to touch, but it was too early in her opinion. They stood close together in a comfortable silence, until Jackson broke it "Now that we've straightened all that out, shall we go to lunch"

"We shall"

Lily waltzed into the Great Hall with Jackson's arm around her; everyone could tell they were happy together and questions filled their minds as to when they were actually going to officially declare that they were dating.

* * *

_A few minutes before. _

"Hey Moony, Wormtail" said James briefly taking his rightful place next to them.

Remus and Peter both smiled happy to be on good terms with their best mate "Good lesson?" asked Remus

"Not one bit, managed to swing a double detention... but you'll probably get the story from Sirius. Anyway, I should probably go, the others will be arriving at any moment and we wouldn't want them even angrier. I'll talk to you guys later..." replied James, standing from the table.

Peter stopped eating long enough to speak "Alright Prongs"

"Oh and Prongs... I don't know what you're planning... but good luck!" said Remus flashing him a smile.

"Thanks Moony!"

James had to plan; he only had around 7 hours to figure out the perfect way to get Sirius to forgive him, although all his thoughts on that matter disappeared when he bumped into Lily and Jackson on their way into the Great Hall for lunch.

"Hello ol'capitano" said Jackson

"Bones, just the man I was looking for, practice this Saturday..." said James.

Jackson glanced at Lily "Oh...umm...-"

"Unless that doesn't fit your schedule...?" James responded glaring down at Lily.

"No, I'll be there"

James shrugged and started to walk away, "Either way, you wouldn't have had a choice Bones." Thus ended the conversation between the boys, although few witnessed this encounter many students around Hogwarts could have told you that James was only being rude to Jackson because his arm was around the girl James has wanted since first year. Lily however was completely oblivious to James' jealousy towards Jackson. One would say she was too lost in his light blue eyes to even notice.

He wanted to scream, this was getting out of control. He was being possessed by a monster, no longer himself; he was full of anger now. Screaming with rage was James Potter. _Calm down! _He thought _Just breath, calm down. _Serenity never came, he was in too deep, this had been going on for too long, there was no way he would be able to resist it now. He was no longer able to just shrug it off; this evil monster was inside on him, slowly destroying every bit of peace inside of him and replacing it with jealousy. _Get over it James! She's his, NOT yours. Get over her! _He thought, no matter what, this green eyed monster was not going to control him. Not forever at least.

Time passes quickly when ones battling their true feelings and resisting the actions he would regret, before James could even start to think about how he was going to go about fixing his and Sirius' friendship it was 6:50pm. He sighed, _stupid monster is going to ruin my life, _James then headed down to the trophy room to serve his detention. He arrived just in time with one minute to spare, "Cutting it a little close Mr. Potter?" asked a furious McGonagall.

"I'm sorry professor..."

"You've made a habit of arriving late Mr. Potter, a habit that you might consider breaking..." she glared at him and retreated from the room.

James had been unaware that Sirius had already arrived; he grabbed a cloth and started cleaning trying to gather his thoughts before attempting to make conversation. Different scenarios ran through James' mind as he tried to figure out the best way to apologize, although none of those scenarios were needed.

Sirius stopped cleaning and turned towards James "What did you mean when you told McGonagall I was always right?"

James shrugged "Well that's exactly what I meant actually... You are always right... 95% of the time"

"A fellow Marauder almost always is"

He sighed "Shit Padfoot, I'm sorry. I should have listened to you, Remus, and Peter. You guys were right, I was lying to myself and I was being a coward. You have every right to be mad, I sure would be if I was you... I was a huge prick."

"Yeah you were..."

"I was so dumb and I realized a few days ago after I caught Olivia cheating on me with another bloke that I really didn't give a damn about what she did although every time I see Jackson with Lily..." he hung his head and Sirius burst out laughing.

"It bloody took you long enough, and I mean, I would say I was sorry about Olivia but I'm really not! You caught her cheating which helped you figure out what I've been trying to tell you since forever!"

"Yeah... I made a huge mistake going out with Olivia again..."

"Everyone makes mistakes... life didn't come with instructions Prongs..."

He chuckled "Even if it did, we probably wouldn't follow them anyway"

Sirius beamed "Now that's the Marauder spirit!"

"Mate... what are we going to do about Jackson...?" asked James

Sirius winked "You know me... I've always got a plan..."

They laughed along together for the rest of the night and made the unbearable task of cleaning the trophy room... bearable. Once the task had been completed Sirius and James returned to the common room, only to find Remus and Peter seated in front of the fire. They both took their rightful places next to the other boys.

"So...?" asked Remus

Sirius smiled "We're cool,"

"Fantastic!"

James sighed "Yeah, I wish I could room with you guys again though"

"Well actually Prongs, Peter and I found a loop hole and managed to take the spell off." Said Remus

"Brilliant!" yelled Sirius.

James rose from his chair "I'm going to get my things and put them back in our dorm... see you guys in a bit"

They smiled as James ran up the boy's staircase to move his things back, "I missed that prick" said Sirius

Both Remus and Peter nodded in agreement and they followed James up the stairs to give him a hand with all his things.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this long-ish chapter. **

**:) **

**Please Review, you know you want to!**

**And thanks to all those who did last time. **

**- Hulio  
**


	25. Chapter 25

James awoke Saturday morning just in time to watch the sunrise, which he enjoyed so much. He groaned in displeasure as a bright red joined the colours in the sky, a red that instantly reminded him of Lily and her gorgeous long red hair. He admired the sky but it's colours changed oh too quickly and the red was gone, gone like the girl of his dreams. James could already tell that it was going to be a bad day, too bad though, it was perfect Quidditch weather. He rolled over and wished more than anything to fall back asleep and wake up tomorrow, to just skip over this day completely. However sleep never came, finally accepting the fact, James rolled out of bed and dressed in his Quidditch gear, this was a very important practice and they needed to train hard if they wanted to beat Slytherin in next week's game. He finally left his dorm to head down to breakfast, first checking the map to make sure that a certain group of girls weren't down stairs eating and then pocketing it.

_A good ten minutes later in the Great Hall_

"See I told you he would be in here..." said Sirius taking his spot next to James at the Gryffindor table

Remus sighed as he and Peter sat down opposite to them "Yes, you were right Padfoot"

"I mean, come on, when Prongs isn't sleeping, he's eating."

"What happens when I'm not eating?" asked James

"You're thinking about Lily" replied Remus

James gasped in attempt to look offended, "I resent that... I am not always thinking about her..."

Sirius, Remus and Peter all burst into laughter, for Lily was all James thought about, dreamt about and talked about. "I'm usually thinking about Quidditch too, or pranking..." said James in response to their laughter.

"No matter what, you always end up thinking about Lily though. Like in Quidditch, you start thinking about a new move on your broom and then you end up thinking about Lily riding with you. Or when you're trying to come up with a prank, you end up thinking how Lily would react..." said Remus

"Oh shut up and eat your food. You're going to need energy for today's practice"

Silence fell over the Marauders while they all stuffed their faces with the unlimited amount of food in front of them. Although a few minute later James spoke after glancing down at the map "I should go, the girls are on their way..."

"No Prongs, stay, they'll have to forgive you sometime, what better time than now" replied Sirius

"But Padfoot, Lily's with them..."

Remus glanced at the map "Not for long, she's about to run into Jackson."

James scowled as he watched Jackson approach Lily and her friends, although this didn't go unnoticed by the others. "Don't go too hard on him today in practice Prongs," said Sirius causing James to look up from the map.

He shrugged "It's not my fault if he can't handle it..."

They snickered although quickly stopped when the girls, minus Lily, sat down next to them. "So, you've made up?" asked Marlene sitting down next to Sirius, he swung his arm around her "Yes, we have..."

The three girls sighed in relief "Thank god!" they cried "We need your help, all of you" stated Alice

"What kind of help are we talking about exactly..." asked James

The girl's smirked "The Marauder kind" replied Marlene.

Smiles grew across all their faces "That's my favourite kind,"

Alice smile faded "Alright let's get serious-"

"You should at least give me a five second get-away!" whined Sirius

She rolled her eyes and continued "We need you guys to get Lily and Jackson to break up..."

The group fell silent. "No way!" cried James "She already hates me, I don't need her to hate me more..."

Marlene slammed her fists down on the table causing all four Marauders to jump "Man up James! You're not going to be able to have Lily while she's dating someone else." James looked angry in response so Remus, being the peace keeper of the group, spoke before an argument could start. "Why do you want them to break up anyway..?"

The girl's fell silent, "You can't tell anyone but I happen to know for a fact that Jackson doesn't really care about Lily." Whispered Mary

Sirius raised his eye brows "And how do you know this...?"

"Well, you know how boys are begging to be with Marlene not matter what house they're in?" asked Alice,

"Unfortunately, yes..." replied Sirius no bothering to hide the jealousy in his tone.

Marlene sighed "Well Mike, Jackson's best friend, mentioned that Jackson wanted to be Quidditch captain this year but he didn't get it."

The Marauders all looked equally as confused "So...?" asked Peter

Mary shook her head at their confused expressions "Well, we think that because James got what Jackson really wanted... he's... um..."

James finally understood "He's only dating Lily because that's what I really want to!"

"That's why we need you guys to break them up, we don't want her to fall for him and then have him hurt her..." whispered Marlene.

The group looked down the table and eyed the couple, James quickly looked away "I can't speak for my fellow Marauders, but I'm in."

"Me too!" agreed Sirius

Remus nodded "Count me in as well"

Peter sighed "I guess I'll help too then."

"Fantastic!" cried Mary "We better start planning..."

"No need too, the Marauders have got this under control... plus Marlene, Sirius, Remus and I need to get down to the pitch..." replied James

Marlene checked her watch "But James, we still have another half an hour..."

"I know, so little time, now come on!" he replied rising from the table and heading toward the door. "We had better go I'll talk to you later" said Marlene following James, Sirius and Remus out of the hall.

* * *

"Alright ! Huddle up team!" shouted James, he waited a few moment for his team to come together and then continued "So as you know, a week today we face Slytherin. Their team plays rough and unfairly, and I will have none of that, we win fairly or we don't win at all, got it?" the six other players nodded in agreement "Good, now let's start with ten laps, try and keep up would you?" and with that James mounted his broom and shot into the air, the team then quickly followed. James was a fast flyer and was definitely unbeatable especially since he had a head start although Jackson was doing everything in his power to catch up to him.

"What is he doing?" asked Marlene after Jackson almost knocked her off her broom

Sirius snickered "It looks like he's trying to catch up to James..."

"He could really injure someone," said Remus rubbing his shoulder after Jackson rudely bumped into him.

"First he takes Lily, now he's trying to take Quidditch from James... This can't end well" said Marlene shaking her head in disappointment.

"Well, I sure as hell don't want to finish last..." said Sirius pulling ahead of Remus and Marlene.

Marlene eyed Remus and before anyone had the chance to blink she had flown right passed him and Sirius. "Oh it's on Marlene!" they yelled after her in attempt to catch up.

"I doubt that," she screamed in return, gaining on James flying right past Jackson. "Hey James," she said pulling up beside him.

He smiled "I was wondering when you would join me up here at the front"

"Well I didn't want to finish last and I didn't want to let you have all the fun in crushing Jackson's dreams of being in first"

He laughed along with her and they pulled ahead from the group, by the end of the laps the whole team was panting. "Well done guys, now we're going to try this new tactic. It's really not that hard, and I'm sure it will bring positive results in our upcoming game." The whole team listened as James explained his new tactic, it involved the one of the three chasers flying close to the ground and the two others flying above. One of the chasers flying above the bottom chaser must have the Quaffle, and right when the opposite team attempt to take the Quaffle away they pass it quickly down to the player below, thus confusing the other team. The beaters will then start hitting the Bludgers toward the keeper creating a distraction so they can score, "although beaters the Quaffle has to be in the scoring area for us to not be penalized for firing Buldgers at the keeper. Alright, we are going to run through this a few times and see how it works, pretend it's a real game situation."

"But James, how am I supposed to save the Quaffle if the beaters are hitting Blugers at me?" asked Jackson

James turned on him "It's meant to be hard Bones, if you don't want a challenge you can just leave" after having said this James quickly mounted his broom and kicked off.

"This should be interesting" whispered Marlene

Sirius grinned "More like hilarious!"

"Well whatever, he deserves it if what you girls said is true" said Remus kicking off of the ground.

Practice continued as planned, once having perfected their new tactic James had the team take shots on the goal posts and warned Jackson, after much complaining, that if he missed more than three he would have to do five extra laps at the end of practice. Of course James made sure that he did miss more than three, and quietly snickered as he watched Jackson do five extra laps once practice was over. _That will teach him to mess with me _thought James as he entered the change room.

"You should have seen it, it was bloody hilarious!" cried Marlene.

Alice snorted "You're saying that James made up an impossible task for Jackson and then when he couldn't do it he made him do extra laps"

"That's exactly what I'm saying..."

Mary and Alice dissolved into laughter and they were soon joined by Marlene. After minutes of silent laughter, Marlene finally regained control "Where's Lily anyway...?"

Alice shrugged "We don't actually know, she said something about going to watch Quidditch practice but we haven't seen her since then?"

Marlene's mouth fell open "WHAT? She w-was watching...?"

"Last that we heard..." replied Mary

Marlene got up from her chair in front of the fire "Oh shit, I have to go find the Marauders, and I'll talk to you guys later..."

"Wait Marlene...? What exactly is the big problem..?" asked Alice

"We're trying to get Lily to forgive James, and if she saw him at practice today, well forgiveness is highly unlikely..." whispered Marlene, then she ran from the common room down to the Great Hall, it was well past dinner but that was the last place she had seen the Marauders. Upon reaching the Great Hall she quickly scanned the room _alright, so they're not in here, they're not in their dorm. I pray they're in the kitchens. _She sprinted down the corridor in the direction of the fruit bowl portrait.

"That was bloody brilliant Prongs!" hollered Remus

Sirius laughed in agreement, "I wonder what he's doing now..?"

"Probably icing those bruises, those shots we threw weren't soft at all" said James "Should I feel bad..?"

The laughter stopped "Prongs, what if what the girls said was right, if he's just using her... Would you still feel bad..?" asked Sirius, to which James responded by shaking his head "Exactly, nothing to worry about..."

He sighed "Yeah, you're probably right..."

Their conversation abruptly stopped when they heard someone descending the staircase, "Oh thank god!" cried Marlene.

"To what do we owe this great pleasure" asked Sirius

She batted her eye lashes "Oh but the pleasure is all mine Black" she took a seat next to Sirius and proceeded to kiss him.

"Could you please not do that..." asked James. "I'd rather no puke up my dinner..."

Sirius turned on him "Like I haven't watched you snog a ton of girls."

"Yeah, but Marlene's like my sister. Don't make me punch you Padfoot."

Sirius sighed, "Oh alright. So, why are you thanking god that you found us?"

Marlene gasped "I can't believe I almost forgot..."

"Girls tend to forget things when they see me..." retorted Sirius

She playfully hit him "No but this is serious, I was telling Mary and Alice about James' brilliance today down on the pitch"

"Lily didn't over hear you did she?" asked James.

"No... but..."

"What did you do Marlene!"

Remus interrupted "Just let the girl talk Prongs..."

They fell silent and Marlene continued "Well, I noticed Lily wasn't there so I asked Mary and Alice where she was and well they said the last time they heard from her was when she said she-was-going-down-to-the-Quidditch-pitch-to-watch-the-practice..."

James' head fell into his hands at this news and they vaguely heard him mumble "Well, I'm back to being an arrogant, bullying toe rag"

"I don't even know if she was even there... Did you guys see her?"

Remus sighed "I have no idea; I mean I don't think I did but she could have been there..."

"Prongs, it will be okay..." said Sirius "She can't resist the Potter charm forever."

He lifted his head "Oh shut it Padfoot, with me or not, I just want her to be happy."

"But James, you don't get it, Jackson's using her, and he's just going to end up hurting her. That's why we're doing this..." replied Marlene

James nodded "So she can be happy..."

"Exactly"

He rose from the table and started towards the portrait hole "Alright well I'm going to get this over with"

"What exactly are you getting over Prongs..?" asked an extremely confused Peter

He sighed, "Well if Lily was there, she's going to yell at me, so I may as well get that over with so we can get back to planning revenge- I mean planning to break them up"

The other laughed as James retreated up the stairs, "Let's hope that once this is all over they can finally be together..." said Peter "It's getting a bit annoying"

Marlene rolled her eyes "Isn't that the truth."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it. **

**This is probably one of the last chapters, there's probably only going to be around 2, maybe 3 more. **

**Thanks to everyone who Reviewed, and to everyone who didn't I would love to here from you, so please Review. **

**- hulio  
**


	26. Chapter 26

_He rose from the table and started towards the portrait hole "Alright well I'm going to get this over with"_

_"What exactly are you getting over Prongs..?" asked an extremely confused Peter_

_He sighed, "Well if Lily was there, she's going to yell at me, so I may as well get that over with so we can get back to planning revenge- I mean planning to break them up"_

_The other laughed as James retreated up the stairs, "Let's hope that once this is all over they can finally be together..." said Peter "It's getting a bit annoying"_

_Marlene rolled her eyes "Isn't that the truth."_

_

* * *

_

James sighed and pushed the portrait hole open walking into a deserted common room except for one, Lily Evans who sat in her usual spot by the window reading. _Here we go, another fight... _he though, as he marched across the room and sat down across from Lily. "Hey Evans"

"Was it not enough for you to injure Jackson, Potter?" she asked calmly not bothering to take her eyes off her novel.

"Now Evans, why would I want to injure one of my own players?"

She rolled her eyes and turned the page in her book "Well, Jackson tells me it's because you're jealous of him..."

James could help but laugh at this, "Me jealous of him... It's the other way around _sweetheart_"

At this she slammed her book closed and set in down on the table "Seriously Potter, you injure my boyfriend and now you lie right to my face about it."

"Since when is he your boyfriend Evans?" asked James, trying to hid the hurt in his voice.

She sighed "Since this afternoon when he asked me to be his girlfriend after Quidditch practice..."

James rolled his eyes "And you agreed no doubt?"

"Yes I did actually, Potter!"

"And why in the world would you do that!" he shouted

She was now on her feet "Because I fancy him and he fancies me!"

James huffed "Wow, for the brightest witch of our generation, you sure are an idiot!"

"Are you that jealous Potter that you're trying to make me feel bad about myself...?"

"I AM NOT JEALOUS!"

"THEN WHY DO YOU CARE?"

"HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOU LILY! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO GET HURT!" James mentally slapped himself for saying that to her face.

"CLEARLY YOU'RE NOT JEALOUS AT ALL..." she said rolling her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her words

"HE IS USING YOU LILY!"

_He had to be lying, _thought Lily _He's just jealous of Jackson, that's why he's lying..._ no matter how much Lily tried to convince herself that James was lying, a part of her believed him. An uncomfortable silence filled the air, and Lily started to gather up her belongings. She turned and climbed the girl's staircase, "I just don't want to see you get hurt Lily," whispered James under his breath. Although it must have not been a whisper for Lily had clearly heard him, she then quickly climbed the stair, trying her best to ignore the tears that now fell from her eyes.

* * *

Days passed, and Lily didn't speak to James. Weeks passed, and she stopped making eye contact when they crossed paths. Months passed, and James felt as if he was losing her, losing their chances of being friends and maybe more. The Marauders came up with a plan however, since Lily wouldn't believe them; they were going to have to make Jackson admit that he didn't really care for her. The pranks got worse and the Marauders with the occasional help from Mary, Alice and Marlene made Jackson's life hell. He knew their game however; he was wise and cunning and knew exactly how to make it out of every situation they threw at him. Jackson was winning a game that James didn't want to play; he never thought of Lily as a prize in a game, he saw her as much more than just a hunk of metal. James fought all his ergs to hex Jackson into oblivion, this was extremely hard for would dangle Lily in front of him, James didn't stoop to his level, he was also very intelligent and knew that hexing Jackson wouldn't fix anything. He got revenge when they were on the Quidditch pitch, in games and practice, he would play his captain roll well and he led the team to great success, which he could tell was eating away at Jackson on the inside. Lily soon found out what James was doing to Jackson, and was furious with him, promising to never speak to him again. This hurt James, but no matter, he and the others never stopped plotting and executing revenge, hoping that Jackson would soon crack. They had underestimated him however, Jackson was stronger than they thought, and held onto Lily no matter what. James refused to admit it, but it was killing him inside to see Lily gaze so adoringly at a bloke who was going to end up hurting her, the Marauders would try and comfort him however it didn't help.

James awoke a bright Saturday morning, the snow was finally beginning to melt and they buds were starting to bloom. The sun was shining through the curtains surrounding his four poster bed, it was late morning, he had been sleeping longer than usual lately. He sighed and rolled out of bed, to find the other Marauders just steering in their beds. All four of them slowly made their way down stairs for breakfast, neither of the four wanted to eat, which was unusual behaviour for them, what they truly desired was to crawl back into bed.

* * *

"Is it normal to be nervous, I mean we've been seeing each other for like three months" at the mention of the duration of her relationship with Jackson, Marlene groaned into her cereal. "Why am I so nervous...?"

"I don't know Lily," responded Marlene trying to sound as sincere as possible. Although Lily had been rambling on about her date the moment she and Marlene had taken their seats at the Gryffindor table to enjoy a nice breakfast, on top of it all Marlene wasn't in a very good mood. She hadn't slept well, and Mary and Alice somehow managed to ditch her, leaving her with Lily and her pre-date issues.

Lily rolled her eyes "I know you don't like him, but could you at least pretend you do, for my sake..?"

"Lily, you know I can't do that, he's a prick."

"You know Marlene just because you're jealous that I have a boyfriend and you don't doesn't mean you have to be a bitch about it"

It had been good that Marlene had not been eating at the time for the food in her mouth would have been quickly projected onto Lily, who would have deserved it anyway. "Where in the world did you get the impression that I was jealous of you?"

"Well Jackson thinks that you are, because firstly you're single and I'm not. Secondly he thinks that you're mad because you think you're losing your best friend, but trust me Marlene I'll always be here for you." Marlene stared wide eyed and opened mouthed at Lily.

"Well, I will be here when he dumps your ass" whispered Marlene under her breath.

Lily looking slightly offended excused herself from the table to go and get ready, although Marlene didn't care whether Lily had heard what she said or not, Lily after all was being the bitch. She happily watched her leave the Great Hall, although her smile vanished when she saw the Marauders enter. It's not that she wasn't happy to see them, it's just that they also looked to be in horrific moods.

"Hello Marlene" said Peter as the Marauders joined her, trying to sounds cheery

She looked up from her cereal "Hey guys how are you?"

"Could be worse" replied Remus, "Where are Alice and Mary?"

"I don't know, Alice is probably with Frank and Mary got in late last night," _Oh shit, I probably shouldn't have said that, she thought. _"But they ditched me this morning and I was stuck with a complaining Lily"

"How late did Mary get back last night" cried Sirius, sounding absolutely outraged.

She sighed; she felt extremely bad talking about Mary in front of Remus since there had been an issue between the two that ended their relationship. "Late."

James quickly changed the conversation, "So how was Lily this morning?"

She glared at him, sending a look that clearly said _I-really-don't-want-to-talk-about-her-right-now_

"That bad... What did she say?"

"Well, it was a rather pleasant conversation" said Marlene, emphasizing the sarcasm in her voice "She went on about how nervous/excited she was, and then she told me to give Jackson a shot and to stop being so jealous of their relationship"

At this the Marauders dissolved into laughter, they apparently had found this whole situation to be very amusing; Marlene on the other hand was not pleased at all. A full five minutes later after Sirius had fallen off of his chair and onto the floor the four boys finally calmed down. "I can't believe she thinks you're jealous..." said Sirius

"Well she didn't come to that conclusion on her own... I have a feeling Jackson is planting these ideas into her head...stupid git."

"That's ridiculous!" cried Remus "Since when are people able to plant ideas into Lily Evan's head."

She shrugged "Don't ask me..."

"Well whatever, Lily's got every right to be nervous..." replied Sirius with an evil smirk, he then winked at the others

Marlene had no idea what-so-ever as to what they were talking about until a few seconds later, she finally clued in. "Oh no! Even though I totally don't think she should be with Jackson, you can't mess up her date."

"Oh pretty please, we're just having fun" whined James

After a moment of silence in which Marlene had been debating whether or not to let them go through with their prank she finally spoke "Fine, just don't be that harsh on her. And I never knew you were going to do anything either, okay?"

"We weren't planning on being harsh on her..." replied Sirius

Marlene sent him a look, then shook her head at the four boys. "Alright fine, just don't hurt Lily, got it?"

"Got it" sang all four Marauders.

"Alright good, now I have to go" she said getting up from the table.

"Where are you going...?" asked Peter

She blushed "Oh, well..."

James raised his eye brows "Marlene do you have a date this afternoon?"

"Oh shut up James," she said rolling her eyes and walking away from the table. Once she was out of ear shot Remus spoke, "I take it you guys are off again...?"

Sirius sighed "We've been off for the past month or so..."

"And you didn't tell us!" cried James

"Well, no..."

"Why not?" pressed Peter

"It just never came up, okay?" snapped Sirius in return. Remus put a hand on his shoulder, he could tell Sirius was hurt by the fact Marlene was going to Hogsmeade with another bloke, "Padfoot the second we resolve this Lily problem, we're getting you and Marlene back together."

He gave them a weak smile "You don't have to..."

"Trust me Padfoot, we have to, you guys have been helping me swoon Lily since first year, it's our turn to help you." Said James

"Thanks mates. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and find a date to Hogsmeade to make Marlene jealous. I'll talk to you later"

They watched him go and James chuckled to himself "Same old Padfoot." The others laughed in agreement.

* * *

**hehe! I'm excited for the next chapter. **

**Just a heads up, the next chapter will in fact be the last chapter (sorry to all those who don't want it to end)**

**PLease review! :)**

**- Hulio  
**


	27. Chapter 27

**This is the final chapter, please enjoy! :) **

* * *

_"Thanks mates. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and find a date to Hogsmeade to make Marlene jealous. I'll talk to you later"_

_They watched him go and James chuckled to himself "Same old Padfoot." The others laughed in agreement._

"So here's the game plan." Said Sirius as the four boys huddled in front of the huge oak doors, "We're going to do our thing in Hogmeade until 2 o'clock sharp when we will head over to the three broomsticks. Then after a few butter beers we're going to pull a few pranks on Lily and Jackson ruining their first date."

"Perfect can't wait." Said James

Remus rolled his eyes "You know, for a guy that's totally in love with her and one of her closest guy friends, you two can be real jerks"

"We're just looking out for her." Replied Sirius, taking a glance toward the stair case suddenly noticing a fifth year girl descending. "There's Ashley, or Alison, or Anna, or... well whatever, there's my girl, I have to go, I'll see you guys at 2"

"Have fun Padfoot" said Peter

He winked at his fellow Marauders "Oh, you know I will."

Remus and James grinned at him "What did he mean by that?" asked Peter

James sighed while Remus shook his head "Just forget it Peter, let's get to Honeydukes!"

James, Remus and Peter were seated in the Three broomsticks, four butterbeers on the table. "Where the bloody hell is Padfoot? He said 2 o'clock sharp and it's almost two ten!"asked James, although just then Sirius walked through the doors and took his seat with the others. "Sorry I'm late, lost track of time..."

"I don't even want to know..." replied Remus "Although I have an idea, Padfoot are you aware that you have lip stick all over your neck right?"

"Oh shit" he said, licking his fingers and trying to remove it, while the three others were snickering into their butterbeers. "Oh shut it you three, at least I had a girl to take and didn't strike out"

James raised his eyebrows "What are you implying Padfoot"

"You know exactly what I'm implying." he said, toasting his cup to the others and taking a huge sip.

"Hey guys," said a voice in which they all recognized to well, everyone had seen her coming, everyone besides Sirius, who pants were now soaked in butterbeer.

"Hey Marlene" responded James wearing a silly grin. "How's your day been?"

Whether she had seen Sirius spill his drink or not, she continued speaking as if nothing had happened "Good, what are you guys laughing at?" Sirius glared at them, praying that they wouldn't say anything, Remus shrugged "Oh it's nothing."

She smiled at the Marauders "Always up to something, you boys are. Well, I was just checking to see how you were, I really must be going"

James smirked "Gotta get back to your man, eh?"

"Oh shut it Potter, I'll talk to you boys later." she finished, and walked away.

"Yeah, alright sure, talk to you then." Replied Remus

She started to walk away but quickly turned back around "Oh and Sirius," he looked up at her, hope in his eyes "You have some lipstick on your cheek"

All three boys burst into laughter and Sirius blushed quickly trying to wipe it off, Marlene couldn't help but smile as she walked away from them.

"I can't believe you guys didn't tell me!" he whisper-shouted at them

James shrugged "Sorry mate, I couldn't really see it from all the blushing you've done..."

"_git"_ muttered Sirius as he downed what remained of his cup.

"So Padfoot, hows the not striking out with girls thing going for you?"

Remus snorted at this question, "Oh shut it Prongs," replied Sirius, taking out his wand to dry his soaking wet pants. Although James paid no attention to this for he had just noticed Lily and Jackson seated at a table in the very back corner. He groaned causing the others to follow his gaze, "Do they really have to do that in public... personally I'd prefer if they didn't do that at all."

"Oh come on Prongs, they're just talking..." replied Remus.

James huffed as he looked away from the pair "Not anymore" he growled "I don't know about you three, but I'd like to leave"

Peter rolled his eyes "You're over reacting Prongs..."

"I guess, but this just means the pranks that we pull on him have to be much worse now that I've witnessed _that_"

"Good, if you had left you would have missed the show..." said Sirius

James' eyes widened "Padfoot what did you do?"

Although Sirius felt no need to respond for suddenly Jackson butterbeer started to bubble and within seconds his drink had exploded all over him, causing him and Lily to break apart. James couldn't help but laugh along with the other three, yet their laughter stopped when they heard Jackson yelling.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL!"

Lily sighed "Come on Jackson, just calm down, it was just a harmless prank."

"NO LILY! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN, I'VE HAD TO PUT UP WITH ALL OF THEIR PRANKS EVER SINCE WE STARTED DATING AND I'M TIRED OF IT!"

"I will talk to them..." at this point everyone seated in the three broomsticks had their eyes on the couple.

"YEAH AND WHAT GOOD WILL THAT DO? JUST FORGET IT LILY, FORGET US" he yelled plopping down back into his seat. "Were over Lily, no girl is worth this..."

Lily could feel the tears approaching, she stole a quick glance in the Marauders direction, noticing that all four boys were frozen in their seats, completely shocked, then she quickly stood and exited the building.

Silence fell over the whole room and slowly but surely people started to return to their previous activity. James then quickly got up and before anyone could stop him he had approached Jackson "What the hell is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem, you have a problem." he replied rising from his seat to be at eye level with James.

"You just broke up with Lily in front of the entire room."

"Yeah I did." he stated proudly. James absolutely fuming with anger, turned around and walked away, although hearing Jackson sigh, James doubled back and swung at his cowered in pain and sank to the ground by James feet. James rolled his eyes at how pathetic Jackson really was then quickly returned to his seat "Well done Prongs" said Sirius patting him on the back "Couldn't have done it better myself"

James' expression did change at Sirius' complement, he remained worried and nervous. "Just go already Prongs!" said Remus, practically screaming.

He stood muttering his thanks and started after Lily, running from the three broomsticks.

"Come on guys, I want to see this." replied Sirius standing from his seat.

They stared at him in confusion, "I'm not explaining myself, are you two coming to watch or what?"

Remus sighed "Yeah, alright, let's go."

Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she retreated to Hogwarts. She had just been dumped in front of a ton of people, but that wasn't even the worst part according to Lily, _I can't believe my friends were right, they weren't lying, they were trying to protect me, and I'm so stupid for not believing them, she thought. _Lily had thought she had been running back up to the castle although a few minutes later she found herself sitting in the Gryffindor stands in the Quidditch stadium.

"Lily..?" asked a voice.

This time Lily didn't need to squint to try and make out the person in front of her, she was not in a dark hall way, although she would have been able to tell who it was even if it was dark. "Come to rub it in already..?" she asked weakly

"What are you talking about?" he said sitting down next to her swinging an arm over her shoulder and pulling her close.

She looked up at him "You couldn't wait to rub it in my face that you were right and I was wrong, Jackson was a prick."

"No, I would never –"

"How could you James?" she asked moving away from him so she could look into his eyes "... just sit there and watch it happen, watch me fall for him when you knew the truth... how could you" she repeated in a whisper, breaking their eyes contact and looking at her feet.

"Lily, we tried- I tried. I tried to break you guys up" He broke off, losing his train of thought

Tears were falling silently from her eyes "You tried to break us up, thanks" she replied sarcastically. "Did it ever occur to you James to just t-tell m-me."

He gently placed a figure under her chin and lifted it so he could look her in the eyes "I didn't want to hurt you."

She swatted his hand away, and rose from the benches "Yeah, you're right James, because it hurts way less to have your heart broken..."

"He broke your hear?"

Lily was obviously taken-aback by this question "I d-don't k-know, I mean, it sure feels like it..." she sighed "I really liked him."

He stood up, now towering over her "Did you love him Lily?"

"I d-don't... I m-mean... I can't...couldn't"

James quickly cut her off "No, don't answer that Lily..." _I don't want to know anyway. He thought. _

Lily nodded, relieved that she didn't have to answer that, slowly made her way down the stands and across the field, leaving James standing there alone. As he watched her go, he remembered something Sirius had said to him earlier this year, _don't let her be the one to get away. _Without missing a beat he drew his wand from his pocket and summoned a broom, he quickly mounted it and chased after her. He lowered down and flew next to her, "I punched him,"

She stopped which James hadn't seen coming and he flew right past her. "You did what?" she said as he turned around and hovered in front of her.

"When you left, after Jackson said... well you know... I went up to him and punch him..."

She let a laugh escape her and he smiled his famous Potter grin that made her heart skip a beat. "I'm sorry Lily, I should have told you-"

"No, forget it... thanks" she said eying his broom.

He raised a curious eye brow "Hope on," he said, half asking, half demanding, hovering lower to the ground for her to be able to get on.

"There is no way in hell I am getting on that broom with you Potter"

"Come on Lily, you know you want to." She rolled her eyes at that statement in an attempt to hide a blush, for Lily really did want to get on that broom.

"No, I don't." She replied defensively

"Lily" he said sternly "Get on the broom, or I will make you get on the broom"

"Not going to happen, Potter"

He sighed "Alright Lily, I warned you though" James then quickly grabbed her around her waist and pulled her onto the broom, then increased in height so Lily would be able to jump off. James flew them around the pitch, ignoring her constant _I hate you Potter's _or the _put me down's _and even the death threats. Eventually James felt her grip around his waist loosen and he could tell she was a little more relaxed. "I hate you James Potter... but it really is a beautiful view"

He looked at her "Yes, yes it is."

She blushed when he turned back around because she knew that he didn't at all mean the scenery below them. They flew in a comfortable silence, until Lily broke it, she had not none what had made her say it, but it came out anyway "I couldn't love him, cause I... well, I love someone else..."

He acknowledged what she had just told him, but didn't mutter a word, instead he slowly returned them to the ground.

"That was amazing" she said, dropping the last subject, now firmly standing on the ground

He beamed "I always told you it was"

She returned his smile, "Well...Thanks James."

"It was my pleasure Lily" he replied, giving her another smile, she then turned to leave the pitch, although James would have none of that, and grabbed her wrist. "Um... Lily..."

She spun around so she was facing him, "Yeah James..?"

"Well..." he started closing in the space between them. "You just said... but who then..." he sighed and took a deep breath. Lily smiled, she loved how nervous she made him, "I don't know if you know this Lily, but ever since first year, when I met you, I just knew that you were th-"

He didn't finish, and was glad Lily had cut him off by unexpectedly crashing her lips up against his. He had been surprised however he responded with so much passion that Lily swayed on her feet. He grabbed her waist preventing her from falling over and chuckled; she pulled back from James' embrace and playfully hit him. Their eyes met and she quickly looked away "I couldn't love him, because I love you James."

His eyes widened in surprise "Can you repeat that please...?"

She smiled at the fact that he didn't believe her "I. Love. You. James"

James was acting on impulse now, and not bothering to think about it, he pulled her towards him and kissed her once more, aggressively but passionately. They stayed like this for a while then James murmured against her lips, "I love you too Lily"

A camera flashed from somewhere close by but neither Lily or James noticed. "I told you guys you wouldn't have wanted to miss this" the other two rolled their eyes at this statement as he took one last picture and started walking back towards the castle.

One simple kiss changed everything that night, Lily and James were helplessly in love. If she yelled at him, he would apologize and then kiss her. If he was being an arrogant toe rag, she would shut him up by crushing her lips against his. He couldn't resist her eyes, she adored his hair and they way he would ruffle it when he was nervous. He was the only one who could put a smile on her face no matter what kind of a day she was having. His day was instantly brighter the moment he would set eyes on her. He would die trying to protect her, she wouldn't let him pass away and leave her. She was finally his, to have, to hold, to love, for the rest of their lives.

* * *

**End! :) **

**Liked it, hated it? Tell me what your thinking, please Review. **

**I came across something as I finished this story and realized that this is only Lily and James' sixth year so... maybe this isn't the end after all... ;)**

**anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it, thanks for sticking with this story. **

**Have a great night, or morning, or afternoon :)**

**- Hulio  
**


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